An exceptional Cizhou black-glazed and russet-splashed bowl, Northern Song dynasty. Estimate  1,000,000 — 1,500,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

the steep sides supported on a short knife-pared foot and rising to a flared rim, the interior covered with a lustrous black-brown glaze and splashed with irregular russet spots, the underside applied with a chocolate-brown glaze stopping above the foot to reveal the grey buff ware; 11.8 cm., 4 5/8  in.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 9th June 2004, lot 171.
A Japanese collection.

Notes: A very similar bowl excavated from the Cizhou type site at Guantai, Ci county, Hebei province, is illustrated in Guantai Cizhou yaozhi/The Cizhou Kiln Site at Guantai, Beijing, 1997, col. pl. 29. fig. 3.

Sotheby's. Contemporary Literati: Curiosity, Hong Kong, 05 avr. 2015