Lot 126. A 'phosphatic' glazed jar with lug handles, Tang Dynasty (618-907); 7 1/2in (19.3cm) diameter. Sold for US$2,550 (Estimate US$2,000-3,000). © Bonhams 2001-2023

Well-potted with deep sides and high shoulder tapering down to a short splayed foot and flat base, a pair of loop handles flanking the shoulders, the wide mouth with short straight neck and everted lip, glazed inside and out a third way down in very deep brown tone, the exterior with four thick strokes of cream and icy blue, the top of mouth rim and lower body unglazed, revealing buff stoneware body burnt in patches of orange and brown.

Note: Lushan kiln in Henan province was well-known in the Tang dynasty for this type of beautiful glaze. Another group of Tang ceramic vessels decorated in very similar manner has been categorized as "Huangdao ware," also produced in Henan province. As Mowry described in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1996, p. 96, "[Shards] excavated at Lushan indicate that pieces from the Duandian kiln have thick, opaque brown glazes, their bluish white suffusions of well-defined shape, with crisp edges. Reginal Krahl states that pieces from the Huangdao kiln often have thinner, more translucent, brown glazes and that their suffusions tend to be streaked and irregularly shaped, with fuzzy edges."

Compare the closely related large ovoid jar with four loop handles in the collection of the Newark Museum, illustrated by Mowry, op. cit., pp. 94-97, no. 8, described as Lushan ware, from the Duandian kiln, Lushan county, Henan province.

Compare also the tall Lushan ware vase similarly decorated with four strokes of milky glaze over very dark brown glaze, in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, gifted by the Honorable and Mrs. Hugh Scott, illustrated on the museum's website, accession number F1981.3.

Lot 127. A glazed white stoneware ewer, Tang Dynasty (618-907); 5 3/4in (14.6cm) high. Sold for US$1,211.25 (Estimate US$1,500-2,500). © Bonhams 2001-2023

Well-potted with high shoulder tapering down to a slightly flared foot and flat base, the short straight neck with everted mouth, a double-strand handle connecting the mouth rim and the shoulder, opposite to the short straight spout, glazed inside and out a thin layer of transparent glaze, the base unglazed revealing a white slip over the high-fired stoneware body.

Note: A very similar white stoneware ewer in the collection of the Nezu Museum is illustrated in Special Exhibition Commemorating the Donations of Collections: Chinese Ceramics, Lacquer and Bronzes, Tokyo, 2011, p. 28, no. 22, described as high-fired pale grey body with a white slip.

Another similar ewer in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum is illustrated on the museum's website, object number 918.22.36, described as slipped stoneware, 2nd half of 8th-9th century A.D.

Lot 128. A sancai-glazed pottery tripod censer, Tang Dynasty (618-907); 8in (20.3cm) diam. Sold for US$7,012.50 (Estimate US$5,000-7,000). © Bonhams 2001-2023

The spherical body supported by three feline clawed feet, a short straight neck with rolled lip, decorated with molded appliqués of tassels and four-leaf medallions, the vessel and clawed feet covered with dripples of rich green and ochre over a white slip, the rim glazed in pale green, the interior and underside unglazed revealing the fine buff clay body.

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, New York, March 20, 2023