Lot 74. A guri-style ‘Jizhou’ jar, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 21cm, 8 1/4 in. Estimate 25,000 — 30,000 GBP. Lot sold 32,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby’s

the rounded shoulders tapering gently to the foot, surmounted by a slightly waisted neck with lipped rim, covered overall in a rich dark brown glaze forming the ground for the 'guri lacquer' style motif picked out in a speckled buff tone, the design formed from upright ruyi heads enclosing tight scrolls above corresponding pendent ones.

Provenance: Collection of Francisco Capelo.

Literature: Francisco Capelo et. al., Forms of Pleasure. Chinese Ceramics from Burial to Daily Life, London, 2009, pl. 54.

Note: The design on this jar is after contemporary carved guri style lacquer vessels with the smooth brown glaze applied to recreate the feel of a lacquer ware. The same motif can be found executed in repousse silver; for example see a silver meiping and cover excavated from a Song hoard in Deyang county, Sichuan province and now in the Sichuan Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji. Gongyi meishu bian, vol. 10, Beijing, 1987, pl. 99.

While guri style decoration is commonly found on 'Jizhou' bowls and smaller vessels; for example see a bowl illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. 6, London, 1928, pl. XV, no. F77; and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 113, it is rare on vases and larger wares such as the present meiping. However, a smaller meiping painted with the guri design, excavated in Qin jiang county, Jiangxi province, not far from the Jizhou kiln site at Yonghezhen, and now in the Jiangxi Zhangzhou City Museum, is illustrated in Ye Peilan, Yuandai ciqi, Beijing, 1998, pl. 534, and also in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 10, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 163. Compare also a meiping included in the exhibition Song Chinese Ceramics. 10th to 13th Century (Part 3), Eskenazi, London, 2007, cat. no. 20; and another sold in our New York room, 30th March 2006, lot 33.

For further examples see four smaller vessels with painted guri scrolls published in Jan Wirgin, 'Some Ceramic Wares from Chichou', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 34, Stockholm, 1962, pl. 5a, a ewer in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; pl. 5b, a bowl in the City Art Gallery, Bristol; pl. 5c, a jar in the British Museum, London; and pl. 5d, a vase in China.