Lot 26. A rare small persimmon-glazed 'Yaozhou' vase, Northern Song Dynasty (960-1179), 7 1/2 in., 19 cm. Estimate 25,000 — 35,000 USD. Lot sold 26,400 USD. © Sotheby's.

the ovoid body set between a short straight neck rising to an everted lip and a knife-pared foot exposing a dense body material, the exterior covered in a russet-colored glaze slightly thinning around the shoulders revealing a black undertone.

Provenance: The collection was formed in China between the 1920s and 50s.

Note: It is rare to find a persimmon-glazed vase of this shape, although a similar larger meiping was sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1992, lot 124. Compare also a vase in the Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo, with a globular body and flat rim, but similarly covered with a persimmon glaze, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 112; and another in the National Museum of Korea, Seoul, included in Sekai tôji zenshe  vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 123.