A small brown iron-splashed Qingbai double-gourd ewer and cover, Yuan Dynasty. Estimate £2,000 - 2,500 (€2,800 - 3,500). Photo Bonhams.

Elegantly potted with applied chilong loop handle and a curved spout, the moulded lobed cover with loop finial; together with a further iron spotted Qingbai pear-shaped vase, Yuan Dynasty, and a small Qingbai foliated dish, Yuan Dynasty. The ewer: 12.5cm (5in) high (4).

Notes: Small Qingbai-glazed vessels decorated with iron spots were a popular Yuan-period export for the South East Asian market. In the Philippines they were so prized that they were often used as tomb furnishings, and many small ewers, similar in shape to the present vessel, have been excavated in Yuan-period tombs in the Philippines.

An identical ewer and cover to the one in the present lot is in the V&A collection, FE.75-1975, and illustrated by S. Pierson, Chinese Ceramics: a design history, London, V&A, 2009, pl.157.

Bonhams. ASIAN ART, 11 May 2015 10:30 BST - LONDON, KNIGHTSBRIDGE