Lot 115. A rare 'Longquan' celadon double-gourd ewer, Song dynasty (960–1127); 14 cm, 5 1/2  in. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 GBP. Lot sold 100,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's

finely potted with a globular lower bulb surmounted by a smaller upper bulb, set to one side with an elegantly curved strap handle, and a delicate slender spout to the other, applied overall with an even sea-green glaze, draining to a paler tone around the edges, the unglazed hand-pared footrim burnt a buff colour in the firing.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th October 1992, lot 24.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st November 1999, lot 304. 

Notes: Longquan celadon ewers of this charming double-gourd shape include one from the collection of Sir Percival David, now in the British Museum, London, published in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997, pl. A205; another sold in our London rooms, 15th/16th October 1973, lot 164; and two sold in our New York rooms, the first, 23rd May 1969, lot 63, and the second, 5th May 1979, lot 125.

Double-gourd-shaped ewer. Stoneware, porcelain-type, with celadon glaze, Longquan region, Zhejiang province, Southern Song to Yuan dynasty, AD 1200–1300. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art (PDF,A.205) © Trustees of the British Museum.

Ewers of this form are more commonly known to be produced in qingbai porcelain; see examples recovered in Southeast Asia, such as one with a cover, splashed with with iron spots and a dragon-shaped handle in the British Museum, illustrated in Stacey Pierson, Qingbai Ware. Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, pl. 68; another, lacking the iron spots, sold in our New York rooms, 4th November 1978, lot 90; and a third sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 21st May 1984, lot 15.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 09 nov. 2016, 11:30 AM