Lot 93. A 'Jizhou' 'Phoenix' bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Diameter 6 in., 15.2 cm. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 93,750 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of conical form, decorated on the interior with a pair of long-tailed phoenix, interspersed with a butterfly and a floret, all reserved in rich dark brown against the densely variegated buff ground, the exterior splashed and streaked with tan-colored 'tortoiseshell' markings, stopping short of the narrow knife-paired foot. 

Literature: Chugoku meito ten: Chugoku toji 2000-nen no seika [Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics], Tokyo, 1992, no. 53.

Note: See a related bowl in the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, included in The Museum of East Asian Art Inaugural Exhibition, Bath, 1993, cat. no. 112; and another in the Mitsui Library, Tokyo, of slightly smaller size, illustrated in Chugoku no toji. Temmoku. Tokyo, 1999, pl. 54.

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