Page 278 - CHRISTIE'S Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art 09/14 - 15 / 17

1160
A VERY RARE QINGBAI ‘PHOENIX’ EWER

SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
The bulbous body rises to a tapering ribbed neck surmounted by a phoenix head, and has a
strap handle opposite the short, curved spout. The ewer is covered overall in a glaze of pale
blue tone.
12Ω in. (31.8 cm.) high, Japanese wood box inscribed by Koyama Fujio (1900-1975)

$60,000-80,000

PROVENANCE

In Japan prior to 1975.

The form of the present ewer was inspired by earlier sancai-glazed Tang-dynasty
phoenix-head ewers, which were themselves inspired by Sassanian metalwork vessels.
Many of the qingbai examples were exported to Southeast Asia, including several known
pieces such as the example at the Brooklyn Museum, illustrated by A. Poster in Journey
through Asia: Masterpieces in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, 2003, p. 59, no. 9.
See, also, two examples from Indonesia illustrated by Gakuji Hasebe in Ceramic Art of
the World, Tokyo, 1977, pp. 31 and 295, no. 24 and fg. 180.

This ewer was examined by Fujio Koyama (1900-1975), one of the most well-known
scholars of Ding ware, who was also the former director of the Tokyo National Museum,
who assisted with the excavation of ding kilns circa 1930s. The box bears his inscription
on both sides of the cover, referring to the ewer as Qingbai ware from the Song dynasty.
南宋 青白釉鳳首壺

(inscriptions by Koyama Fujio on box)