Page 157 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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A RARE CARVED ‘YAOZHOU’ ‘PEONY’
VASE
SONG DYNASTY
the teardrop-shaped body set over a low foot
and rising to a narrow, waisted neck broadening
toward the rim, freely carved all around
with a long peony stem undulating around
the body and issuing slender shoots of new
growth coiling up the neck, clusters of curling
leaves peeling from each branch and framing
resplendent blossoms of various sizes, Þ ne-
combed incisions delicately detailing the leaves
and petals, all above a double band of upright
petals, covered overall in a translucent olive-
green glaze su" used with craquelure
Height 7⅜ in., 18.7 cm
The present vase is striking for its elegant
proportions and the lively calligraphic gestures
of its lines. It belongs to a small group of carved
‘peony’ bottle vases produced at the Yaozhou
kilns in the Northern Song dynasty. Vases of
this type include a nearly identical example
in the collection of the MOA Museum of Art,
Atami, Japan, published in The Masterpieces
of Yaozhou Ware, Osaka Museum of Oriental
Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, cat. no. 35; a closely
related example but with a double band of
stylized petals at the neck sold in our London
rooms, 11th May 2011, lot 2; a second vase of
that design sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 6th
April 2015, lot 147; a slightly larger example
set on a spreading foot is in the collection
of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
coll. no. C810-1936; and another of that form
is in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., acc.
no. F.1919.90.
$ 40,000-60,000
⬳ġġġ侨ⶆ䩘曺慱⇣丷㝅䈉ᷡ䲳䒞

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