Lot 768. A carved 'Yaozhou' 'lotus' dish, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Diameter 7  7/8  in., 20 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Lot Sold 13,750 USD. © Sotheby's.

sturdily potted with a slightly concave interior, with an upturned rim rising from slanted sides above a low foot, finely and freely carved to the center with a lotus bloom and large leaf borne on scrolling stems, covered overall in a bright celadon glaze of olive-green tone the rim and pooling to deeper shades around the foot, the knife-pared footring left unglazed .

Note: Dishes carved with this lyrical design are held in important museums and private collections worldwide; one in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [The complete works of Chinese ceramics], vol. 7, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 123; two in the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, are published in the Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics I, Tokyo, 1988, pls 470 and 471; another in the Meiyintang Collection, is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, pl. 414; and a further example was sold in our London rooms, 10th November 2004, lot 542. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 11 september 2019