Page 34 - Sotheby's London Important Chinese Art Nov. 2019

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A RARE ‘YUE’ FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT RAM
WESTERN JIN DYNASTY, 3RD CENTURY AD
the large and well-modelled animal with its front and rear
legs folded beneath the body, with a curvaceous spine
and robust rump, its head raised and with a pierced
aperture on top, detailed with a pair of bulging eyes and
curled striated horns encircling large ears, a striated
bead below the slightly open mouth, all highlighted with
dark iron splashes and applied overall with an olive-green
glaze
Length 16.3 cm, 6⅜ in.
Stoneware figures of recumbent rams kneeling with their
forelegs and their hind legs tucked-in and covered in this
olive-green glaze, belong to a group of playful objects for
the scholar’s desk made in kilns in northern Zhejiang and
southern Jinagsu province. Numerous vessels of this type,
in the form of various animals, have been recovered from
tombs of the Three Kingdoms (220-265) and Western Jin
dynasty (265-316), suggesting they were treasured items.
A closely related figure was included in exhibition
Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, 6000 years of
Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San
Francisco, 1983, cat. no. 57; another from the Barlow
collection was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society
exhibition The Ceramic Art of China, Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, 1971, cat. no. 26; was sold in our New
York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 148; and two were sold
in our Hong Kong rooms, the first, 24th/25th November
2014, lot 1025, the second, 3rd/4th December 2015, lot
270.
‡ £ 20,000-30,000
HK$ 196,000-293,000 US$ 25,000-37,500
西晉 三世紀 越窰青釉臥羊水注

32 Buyers are liable to pay both the hammer price (as estimated above) and the buyer’s premium together with any applicable taxes and Artist’s Resale Right (which will depend on the individual circumstances).
Refer to the Buying at Auction and VAT sections at the back of this catalogue for further information.