Page 40 - Sotheby's London Important Chinese Art Nov. 2019

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A ‘CIZHOU’ SGRAFFIATO ‘LOTUS’ VASE,
YUHUCHUN PING
SONG/JIN DYNASTY
the pear-shaped body resting on a short splayed foot,
sweeping up to a slender waisted neck and curved rim,
boldly carved around the exterior through the white slip
to the buff-coloured body with two wide bands of large
lotus leaves and flowers interspersed with smaller buds
and sprigs of leaves, a simple band of plain petals around
the shoulder, all beneath a translucent milky glaze
Height 34.4 cm, 13½ in.
This elegant vase is notable for its bold and fluidly carved
design of lotus leaves and blooms, separated in different
decorative bands. Vessels carved in white slip against a
buff-coloured ground are discussed by Yutaka Mino in the
catalogue to the exhibition Freedom of Clay and Brush
through Seven Centuries in Northern China, Indianapolis
Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1980, p. 96, where he notes
that wares of this type were produced from the 11th
through the 14th century.
A vase of this type but carved with a large floral band
on the body, from the Yangdetang collection, was sold
at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2nd October 2017, lot 77; and
two smaller examples sold in our New York rooms, the
first, 17th/18th September 2013, lot 80, and the second,
21st/22nd September 2005, lot 32.
See also yuhuchun vases with similar designs in black
slip against a white ground, such as a smaller vase with
two bands of leafy scrolls, in the Saint Louis Art Museum,
illustrated in Robert D. Mowry, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell,
and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge, 1995, pl. 68; and one
of similar proportions with a large band of lotus flowers
and leaves, from the Hong Rui Tang collection, sold in
these rooms, 12th December 1989, lot 250.

‡ £ 50,000-70,000
HK$ 489,000-685,000 US$ 62,500-87,500
宋/金 磁州窰白釉劃花卉紋玉壺春瓶

38 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.