A 'Yue' celadon-glazed funerary jar with seated buddhist figures, Western Jin dynasty (265-420). Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

stoutly potted with a plain ovoid body, the shoulder set with two radiating platforms, the lower with eight contemplative Buddhas, hands in dhyanamudra, the figures divided by tiled pagoda roofs upheld by bear-form supports, the second tier with small temples, some with further bear-form pillars, surmounted by a central pagoda roof, all covered with a thin grayish-green glaze, Japanese wood box. Height 15 3/4  in., 40 cm

Notes: The Buddha figures on funerary jars such as this are among the earliest Chinese representations of the Buddha. The modeling of the figures shows a clear Gandharan influence as would be appropriate for the date with Buddhism travelling through Central Asia on its way East. Several related jars are illustrated in the exhibition catalogue by Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang,  Ice and Green Clouds, Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1987, pp. 74-77, including a closely related piece with Buddha figures, fig. 24b.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM