Lot 276. A black-glazed ribbed ewer, Song-Jin dynasty. Height 9 1/2  in., 24.2 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Lot sold 10,000 USD Photo: Sotheby's.

of ovoid form, sloping gently at the shoulders to the narrow neck flaring to an everted rim, one side with a subtly notched tubular spout bent near the top, set opposite an arched handle connecting the mouth to the main body, the cover with a pointed knop, covered all over in a lustrous black-brown glaze streaked with russet and encircled by vertical ribs formed by narrow trails of white slip beneath the glaze (2). 

Provenance: Acquired in the 1970s or 80s.

Note: Similar examples are illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. I, London, 1988, no. 449; Toji taikei, vol. 38, Tokyo, 1974, p. 92, fig. 12; Heibonsha Chinese Ceramics Series, Temmoku, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1999, no. 71; and another lacking its cover in Robert D. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1995, no. 63 where the author notes that these ewers were most likely used for serving warmed wine or hot water for whisked tea. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 15 sept. 2015