Lot 2863. A large high-fired white-glazed cup, Sui dynasty (581-618); 12.2 cm diam., box. Price realised HKD 655,200 (Estimate HKD 240,000 – HKD 320,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1984
A European private collection
Sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2011, lot 1457

Note: Fine high-fired white wares of this type were made at both the Xing kilns in Hebei province and the Gongxian kilns in Henan. Similar cups dated to the Sui dynasty have been excavated at the site of the Xing kiln and are illustrated in Wenwu 1987:9, pp. 4-5, figs. 6 and 10-4. The present cup, however, is of unusually large size. One of comparable size (12.9 cm.) was sold at Christie’s New York, The Falk Collection I, 21 September 2001, lot 10. See, also, the pair (12 cm. diam.) illustrated in the catalogue of the Charles B. Hoyt Collection Memorial Exhibition, 1952, p. 37, no. 142.

Lot 2869. A large high-fired white-glazed cup, Sui dynasty (581-618); 11.8 cm diam. Price realised HKD 630,000 (Estimate HKD 600,000 – HKD 800,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1 November 1981.

Note: The present cup is a rare example of the fine high-fired white wares produced during the Sui dynasty, which are characterised by their fine clay body and thin, crackled translucent glaze. Related cups are known, but are usually of smaller sizes, such as an example (8.8 cm. diam.) in the Xi’an Institute of Cultural Relics Preservation, illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, vo. 15, Shaanxi, Beijing, 2008, p. 14, no. 14. For other similar cups of this larger size group, compare one (12.1 cm. diam.) sold at Sotheby’s New York, 21 September 2022, lot 321; and a slightly shorter one (12.2 cm. diam.) from the Annenberg Jaffe Hall Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2022, lot 1001. 

Christie's. IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, Hong Kong, 30 november 2023