Lot 3124. A russet-painted blackishbrown-glazed jar with rope-twist handle, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234); 7 1/4 in. (18.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 150,000. Price realised HKD 187,500. Price realised HKD 75,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2016.

The high-shouldered tapering body is painted in matte russet brown with two long-tailed birds with spread wings swooping down from the shoulder in contrast to the lustrous blackish glaze which also covers the interior where it thins to a brownish colour, the neatly cut, wide mouth is applied with a rope-twist loop handle, the interior of the foot is similarly glazed and the bottom of the foot unglazed to show the fine pale buff stoneware body, box.

Note: Similar examples include one illustrated in Eskenazi exhibition catalogue, Principle Wares of the Song Period from a Private Collection, London, 2015, pl. 20; one sold at Sotheby’s, London, 9 November 2005, lot 231; another illustrated by Basil Gray, Song Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1984, p. 121, no. 96. For a jar of similar form and decoration, but without a handle, see an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Christie's. Chinese Ceramics From The Yangdetang Collection, 30 November 2016, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall