A fine and rare 'Yaozhou' pear-shaped vase, Jin dynasty (1115-1234)

22 avril 2018

A fine and rare 'Yaozhou' pear-shaped vase, Jin dynasty (1115-1234)

Lot 70. A fine and rare 'Yaozhou' pear-shaped vase, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 28.8 cm, 11 1/2 in. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 GBP. Lot sold 789,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's 2018.

of elegant pear-shaped form with a long waisted neck elegantly flaring to a broad mouth, supported on a short foot, covered all over in a warm celadon glaze suffused with an attractive crackle, the glaze wiped to a brownish-green at the base and foot.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 12th November, 2003, lot 40.
Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

Exhibited: Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 92.

Note: Elegant for its subtle glaze and slender form, Yaozhou vases of this type are extremely rare. The plain, undecorated surface highlights the luminescence of the slightly crackled glaze which is displayed to full effect on its understated yuhuchun shape. Yaozhou glazes of this type are generally dated to the Jin period and provide a striking contrast with its vibrantly carved and olive-green glazed counterparts for which the wares are typically known.

Upright shapes of any kind are very rare among the large-scale production of the main Yaozhou kilns. A closely related excavated vase, but lacking the crackle, , is published in Yaozhou yao/Yaozhou Kiln, Xi'an, 1992, (unnumbered plate); and another was included in the exhibition Yoshuyo/The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, cat. no. 103.

Vases of this attractive form, but carved with floral designs and coated in an olive glaze, include two smaller examples excavated from the Yaozhou kiln sites at Huangpu near Tongchuan in Shaanxi province, illustrated in Songdai Yaozhou yaozhi/The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period, Beijing, 1998, p. 292, fig. 148: 1 and 2, col. pl. 8, fig. 2 and pl. 77, fig. 4, the larger one probably illustrated again in Yaozhou yao/Yaozhou Kiln, op. cit., (unnumbered plate); another excavated at Huachi county, Gansu, and now in the Gansu Qingyang Region Museum, published as an 'excellent example of Yaozhou ware' in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 7, pl. 126; and a third example, included in several exhibitions including Yoshuyo/The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, op. cit., cat. no. 75, and sold in these rooms, 11th May 2011, lot 2.

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A rare carved yaozhou celadon wine bottle, Northern Song Dynasty, 11th-12th century; 22cm., 8 3/4 in. Sold for 241,250 GBP at Sotheby's London, 11th May 2011, lot 2. Photo Sotheby's 2011

Cf. my post: Song ceramics @ Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, 11 May 11, London

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 16 may 2018, 10:30 AM