Lot 671. A 'Jian' 'Hare's Fur' tea bowl, Song Dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 4 7/8  in., 12.3 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the steep, conical sides with a subtly concave band just below the tapered rim, covered in a thick, opalescent chestnut-colored glaze suffused with lustrous black streaks emanating upward in fine lines from the well and around the exterior, the glaze pooling in an uneven line issuing three thick drops revealing the dark gray stoneware body, the base incised with the two-character phrase gongyu (imperial tribute), Japanese box (3).

Note: A closely related 'Jian' 'hare's fur' teabowl, but without the gongyu mark, in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University was exhibited in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, 1995-1997, cat. no. 79. For a discussion of the manufacturing process of these bowls, their appreciation by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1126), and their use in tea ceremony, see ibid., pp. 212-214. Similar bowls carved with gongyu marks include one from the Yangdetang Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3157; and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1st-2nd June 2015, lot 589.

From The Yangdetang Collection. A Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 4 7/8 in. (12.3 cm.) diam. Sold for HKD 500,000 at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3157. © Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

Cf. my post: A Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)

An inscribed 'Jian' 'hare's fur' teabowl, Song dynasty; 12 cm., 4 3/4  in. Unsold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st-2nd June 2015, lot 589. Photo Sotheby's

 Cf. my post: An inscribed 'Jian' 'hare's fur' teabowl, Song dynasty

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM