Lot 63. A 'Yaozhou' molded 'Boys' bowl, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Diameter 6 1/4  in., 15.8 cm. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 50,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of conical form, rising from a short foot to a flared rim, the interior crisply molded with a playful scene depicting three boys in various poses each grasping the stems of lotus flowers, all against dense combed foliate motifs, covered overall in a warm olive-green glaze.

Note: The depiction of boys playing amidst flowers was popular during the Song dynasty, appearing not only on ceramics but also textiles and other media. The lotus in Chinese is known as lian, and is a homophone for the word 'continuous' or 'successive, and so the depiction of boys and lotus together create the wish for continuous birth of distinguished sons, lian sheng guizi.

See a related bowl depicting four boys instead of three, included in the exhibition Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, no. 83, and subsequently sold in our London rooms, 12th November 2003, lot 80; and another illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 1, 1994, no. 427. See also a Yaozhou dish from the Gordon collection depicting three boys, sold Christie's New York, 24th March 2011, lot 1114. 

Sotheby's. Song Tradition: Early Ceramics from the Yang De Tang Collection. New York, 17 marh 2015, 11:00 AM