Lot 72. A rare 'Jizhou' 'Phoenix' vase, Yuan dynasty (1279-1366); 28 cm, 11 in. Estimate 100,000 — 150,000 GBP. Lot sold 125,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's 2018.

the baluster body rising from a slightly spreading foot to a waisted neck and slightly lipped rim, applied with a thick opaque black glaze, reserved on the buff biscuit with two pairs of phoenix circling in the air, one of each with four long tail feathers, the two pairs divided by clouds, the base glazed in black below the foot.

Provenance: Sotheby’s London, 11th December 1990, lot 220. 

Note: Jizhou vases decorated with this elaborate phoenix design are rare, and the present piece is particularly notable for its rich black-coffee brown glaze that provides a striking contrast with the two pairs of phoenix in white reserve. The four birds appear animated with the details of the flowing feathers and eyes painted in swift brushwork.

A similar vase, in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, is published in Robert D. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge, Mass, 1995, pl. 103; another, illustrated in Nuno de Castro, A Ceramica e a Porcelana Chinesas, Porto, 1992, vol. 1, pl. 169, was sold in these rooms, 11th December 1990, lot 220; a slightly larger meiping was sold in our New York rooms, 17th March 2015, lot 181; and a smaller example, decorated with a less elaborate design, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 4th December 2015, lot 265. Compare also a meiping of the same shape but decorated with a blossoming prunus branch illustrated in the Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 217.

A large and unusual 'Jizhou' 'Phoenix' meiping, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Height 14 1/4  in., 36.2 cm. Sold for 50,000 USD at Sotheby's New York, 17th March 2015, lot 181. Courtesy Sotheby's 2015

Cf. my post: A large and unusual 'Jizhou' 'Phoenix' meiping, Southern Song dynasty

A superb  Jizhou' 'Phoenix' vase, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 24.5 cm., 9 5/8  in. Sold for 175,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4th December 2015, lot 265. Courtesy Sotheby's 2015

well potted with an ovoid body rising to a wide, slightly tapered, neck and a lipped rim, applied overall with a rich dark brown glaze, save for two pairs of phoenix in flight left in the biscuit on each side and fired to a pale orange colour, each pair consisting of a phoenix rising and another swooping downwards, with details drawn in brown slip and flower heads dividing the pairs.

Note: slightly larger vase of this type, painted with a dynamic and elaborate image of a phoenix, in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, was included in the Museum's exhibition Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown and Black Glazed Ceramics 400-1400, Cambridge, 1995, cat. no. 103, where the author notes that the form of these meiping derives from contemporary silver bottles, such as the one recovered from a tomb dated to 1195 in Jiangpu county, Jiangsu province (see p. 253).

Further related vases include one sold in our London rooms, 11th December 1990, lot 220; and another also painted with scattered prunus blossoms, sold in our New York rooms, 17th March 2015, lot 181.