Provenance: Rolf, Lord Cunliffe (1899-1963), Honorary Keeper of the Far Eastern Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 
Acquired from Dunt King by Bluett & Sons Ltd., London, 11 July 1951
Acquired from Bluett & Sons Ltd., London, 2 August 1951
The Cunliffe Collection, no.ZC13, and thence by descent

Exhibited and Published: Mostra D'arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, no.505
Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, London, 1960, no.75

Note: Compare with a similarly shaped ovoid jar with related decoration of stylised birds in flight, dated to the Jin Dynasty, illustrated by R.D.Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown and Black Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, 1996, pp.163-164, no.54. 

Bonhams. AUCTION 23237: FINE CHINESE ART, 10:30 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET