Page 190 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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A RARE WHITE-GLAZED JAR AND COVER Distinguished by its glaze, size and shape, this vessel has
SUI DYNASTY several recorded counterparts. Compare a white-glazed
jar of this form, with a broken cover, excavated from a Sui
Japanese wood box (4) tomb at Houchuan, Henan and now in the Chinese History
Height 5½ in., 14 cm.
Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji: Sui
PROVENANCE Tang [The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics: Sui and
Tang Dynasties], vol. 5, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 13. Compare
Japanese Private Collection, Kansai Region.
also a jar illustrated by Bo Gyllensvard, Oriental Ceramics:
Jars of this form were created throughout the Tang dynasty The World’s Great Collections, vol. 8, The Museum of Far
in sancai, but it was during the earlier Sui dynasty that they Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Tokyo, 1982, fig. 41, from the
reached the pinnacle of quality and beauty, with the high collection of King Gustaf VI Adolf, no. 1814. See also a jar and
kaolin content of the local clay at the kilns of the northern cover sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th November 2022,
kilns enabling the production of whitewares of the highest lot 2909, and another without a cover, illustrated in Chinese
caliber. It is rare to find such a jar preserved in good Ceramics A.D. 400-1400: Selections from an American
condition, and all the rarer, complete with its original cover. Collection, J.J Lally & Co., New York, 2007, cat. no. 2, sold at
Christie’s New York, 29th March 2003, lot 72.
While the emergence of stonewares can be traced back
to earlier dynasties, major advances in firing techniques ⊖ $ 100,000-150,000
occurred in the 6th century. According to the Palace
Museum, Beijing, the white wares excavated from the 隋 白釉帶蓋唾壺
tomb of Li Jingxun of the fourth year of Daye in the Sui
dynasty (608), which belonged to the daughter of an official
with close connections to the court, demonstrate a huge 來源
improvement in glaze quality compared to the white wares 日本關西私人收藏
unearthed from the tomb of General Fan Cui of the sixth year
of Wuping in the Northern Qi dynasty (575). The present jar
and cover, with its pale whitish-green glaze and large body
skillfully executed, represents the technical advances made
during the Sui period, which laid a solid foundation for the
further development of white wares in later dynasties, such
as Ding ware of the Song.

376 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 377