Lot 832.  A rare pair of painted pottery goose-form vessels and covers, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220);13 ½ in. (34.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 25,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

Each vessel is modeled as a plump, seated goose, with neck curved in an S-shape and the head of bird is pierced with a circular aperture to fit a separately-modeled cover decorated with three bears. 

Property from the Collection of Frederick A. and Sharon L. Klingenstein

Provenance: Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1998.

Literature: Eskenazi Ltd., Animals and animal designs in Chinese Art, London, 1998, p. 43, no. 11.

Exhibited: New York, Eskenazi Ltd., Animals and animal designs in Chinese art, 24 March-4 April 1998.

Note: Compare the smaller (21 cm.) pair of painted pottery ducks dated to the Han dynasty, 1st century BC or 1st century AD in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics in the Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 1, London, 1994 p. 49, fig. 14. Like the present pair of goose-form vessels, the Meiyintang vessels also have apertures for stoppers, but their stoppers are now missing.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 13 September 2019.