Lot 501. A large carved Yaozhou bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 8 1/8 in. (20.8 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. Price realised USD 372,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018.

The bowl is sturdily potted with rounded sides rising to a lipped rim, and is molded on the exterior with a single band below the mouth rim. The interior is carved with a scrolling stem bearing two hibiscus blossoms and a star-shaped leaf. The bowl is covered inside and out with a lustrous glaze of rich, sea-green tone, except the base of the foot ring which shows the grey biscuit body, Japanese wood box. 

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London, 31 January 1951.
Lord Cunliffe (1899-1963) Collection, no. CN9.
Bonhams London, 11 November 2002, lot 11. 
Sen Shu Tey, Tokyo.

Literature: Sen Shu Tey, The Collection of Chinese Art - Special Exhibition ‘Run Through 10 Years’, Tokyo, 2006, p. 57, no. 67.
Christie's, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 54-55, no. 13.
Rosemary Scott, ‘Chinese Classic Wares from a Japanese Collection: Song Ceramics from the Linyushanren Collection’, Arts of Asia, March-April 2014, pp. 97-108, fig. 17.

Exhibited: Sen Shu Tey, The Collection of Chinese Art - Special Exhibition ‘Run Through 10 Years’, Tokyo, 2006.
Christie's, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November 2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013.

Note: Located at Huangpuzhen, Tongchuanxian, Shaanxi province, the Yaozhou kilns began production of a wide range of wares during the Tang dynasty. The kilns were well placed to use water transportation to the Northern Song capital at Kaifeng, and it is recorded that Yaozhou wares were presented as tribute to the Northern Song court. Both the official Song history and other literary sources mention such tribute gifts. For instance, the official gazetteer during the Yuanfeng era (1078-1085), Yuanfeng jiuyu zhi, mentions fifty sets of tribute ceramics sent to the court from Yaozhou.