Lot 2815. A rare Xing white-glazed four-handled flask, Five dynasties (907-960); 8. 7/8 in. (22.6 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,800,000. Price realised HKD 500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The flask is finely potted with an elongated body indented on two sides, below the four lug-handles each incised with a cross motif, supported on a spreading foot and rising to a columnar neck below a flared mouth, applied to the exterior with a clear glaze of a pale ivory tone, stopping irregularly above the foot revealing the fine, white body, box.

Property from The Yi Lan Tang Collection.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 2007.

Note: Compare to three Xing white-glazed flasks of similar form, also dating to the Five Dynasties. The first is in the Shanghai Museum Collection, the second in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Collection, both illustrated in Xing Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 378 and 399 respectively. The third was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 June 2016, lot 674.

A white-glazed 'Xing' bottle vase, Five dynasties – Northern Song dynasty; 22 cm, 8 5/8 in. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 HKD. Lot sold 750,000 HKD at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 June 2016, lot 674. Photo: Sotheby's

Cf. my post: A white-glazed 'Xing' bottle vase, Five dynasties – Northern Song dynasty

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 9 July 2020