This dish has rounded sides rising from a flat base, applied overall with an ivory-tinged glaze, including the underside of the base. An unglazed rim with a copper band results from Ding’s upsidedown firing technique. This Ding dish is glazed pure and white and preserved in a perfect condition, making it a valuable addition to the collection of Ding wares.
This washer is potted with a slightly flared rim and a deep belly, covered overall with a smooth plum-green glaze thinning to the rim, revealing the body, the center of the washer moulded with a lotus flower and two lotus petals. Longquan ware reached its height during the Southern Song Dynasty with well-defined shapes and various glaze colors such as holly green, light greenish blue and plum green.
This bowl has a wide mouth and a globular body tapering towards the short round foot, the exterior covered with a lustrous black glaze infused with russet-toned speckles, russet bowstring patterns revealed where the glaze is thinner, showing features of the jigger technique. The flowing lines of glaze and elegant composition of the floral-patterned papercut decoration make it stand out among papercut bowls. Jizhou vessels decorated in papercut enjoyed a high level of popularity because of its uniqueness.
As a representative work of chrysanthemum dishes, this pair of dish has a small and delicate shape resulting from exquisite craftsmanship. The body rises from a countersunk base, glazed overall with a sedate olive-green glaze unique to Yaozhou kilns. Tao Yuanming, a Chinese poet lived in the Eastern Jin dynasty had a preference for chrysanthemums as he stated in one of his famous poems, ‘While picking chrysanthemums beneath the Eastern fence, my gaze upon the Southern mountain rests’. Since then, Chinese poets and scholars used chrysanthemum as a symbol of virtue and uprightness in their works spread through ages. Besides poets and paintings, design of chrysanthemum was also largely applied to wares, making chrysanthemum shaping a tradition of ancient Chinese wareproducing procedure. This pair of dish is fascinating as it seems to be a green chrysanthemum blooming in the palms of people’s hands. The fragileness of leaf-shaped rim makes this complete pair all the more valuable.
The censer is covered overall with a translucent and crackled celadon glaze of even tone, potted with a bombé body rising to a short constricted neck and supported on three splayed but strong legs which taper off to form the pointed and unglazed tips, recovering a sense of simplicity. With a soft and luminous design, this censer is a classic example of its type. Censer is an indispensable part of the ‘incense lore’. It has various shapes but they all serve the same purpose. This censer, while still functioning as an incense lore utensil, showcases sedateness and elegance which are required elements of Buddha worship, making it a valuable addition to the collection of Longquan wares.
Sancai is a representative work of ceramics during the Tang Dynasty. Its magnificent glaze and unique style had been sought after by officials and aristocrats at that time. This censer in bell form is potted with a globular body rising from a round foot to a circular rim, fashioned with rectangular openings on the shoulder. The exterior is applied overall with a sancai glaze mainly of a yellowish green tone save for the round foot, revealing the white body. Such a glaze with various but harmonious colors resembling watercolor paintings makes the censer a worthy collection of Sancai ceramics.
Water pot was used to contain water for the ink slab. Produced during the Northern Song Dynasty, this vessel is potted with a globular and tapering body rising from four legs to a rounded rim with a lid, with four protruding rope patterns beginning at a ridge on the shoulder and trailing down towards each leg. A petal-shaped small button was made to decorate the lid. The vessel is applied overall with a glaze bright and smooth, the shape crude but graceful, making it a worthy addition to the collection of Ding stationary accessories.
Potted with deep arched sides rising from a round foot to a slightly flared rim, this large bowl is moulded with entwined chrysanthemums on the interior and two bifarious chrysanthemums in the center, covered overall with a sedate and elegant celadon glaze of Yaozhou kilns. Yaozhou kilns feature an important decoration technique of moulded design which has various patterns including flowers, animals and human figures. This bowl is large in size, making it an exceptional addition to the collection of Yaozhou wares.
This type of ram-shaped vessel is a representative work of ceramic sculptures during the Jin Dynasty (AD 265–420). The lamp is carved in the round to depict a recumbent ram detailed with curled grooved horns and its head held high, gazing forward calmly, its four legs tucked in beneath the body, its body further carved with patterns of wings, indicating the goal of achieving immortality in Taoism. The word for ram was considered the same as that for auspicious in ancient Chinese, thus used broadly in inscriptions on bronze wares during the Han Dynasty. Ram-shaped vessel representing auspiciousness reached its height during the Jin Dynasty (AD 265–420). Such a decorative vessel preserved in a perfect condition is extremely rare, suggesting high value.
This persimmon glaze funnel tea bowl is openmouthed with a straight sloped body and a thick, solid structure. The persimmon glaze has a moist look and is applied inside and outside, except for the base which has been left unglazed. Running in a thick vertical pattern, the glaze condenses into beads in places and reveals a yellow brown hue on the surface. From a distance the effect is reminiscent of the color and texture of tea leaves. The evenly distributed spotting creates a natural beauty highlighting the excellence of the Jian kiln.
This bowl has an everted rim, applied overall with a celadon glaze save for the round foot. It’s shape and patterns all resemble the YAOZHOU MOULDED ‘CHRYSANTHEMUM’ BOWL formerly collected in the Qing Palace and preserved now in the Palace Museum, Beijing. On the interior, patterns of six entwined chrysanthemums are impressed down, with one curvy stem connecting all the six, echoing the chrysanthemum pattern in the center of the bowl. The distinct motifs and rich content make it stand out among similar Yaozhou wares.
This tea bowl is finely potted in low relief, the deep rounded sides rising from a small foot, the exterior subtly molded with a band of overlapping petals, covered overall with a soft celadon glaze, save for the unglazed footring revealing the brown-grey body. This lot is small and exquisite, with both the merits of aesthetics and utility, a truly valuable addition to the collection of Longquan ware.
This tea bowl, in the classical style of the Jian kiln, has an inward sloping belly and a progression of lines from the mouth to the base, yielding a smooth and beautiful curve. The inner and outer glaze is a frosty persimmon color in somber hues that has been applied more thinly around the mouth. The different colors applied run downward, becoming thicker near the base. The base of the bowl to the foot is unglazed revealing a deep chestnut color. The solid texture and flat base are characteristic of the Jian kiln works. The persimmon glaze bowl is called Tenmoku in Japan. This rustic and quaint tea bowl is a rare find.
The interior of the cup is applied with a running yellow glaze while the exterior a green-glazed moulded pattern, a typical style of metal utensils. With a cylindrical body tapering toward the bottom, the cup has the feature of gold and silver wares from the Tang Dynasty. This cup of moderate size and weight looks both dignified and delicate. When held in hand, its rim presses on one’s hand, fitting perfectly with the hand shape. The exterior and the base is moulded with interlaced floral patterns with a lotus flower in the center of the base, making this well-preserved cup colorful and lovely.
The pen is in a cylinder shape, covered in red lacquer, with the the character “shou” carved on the top. Both the cap and body are covered in patterns of clouds with a dragon circling the body through the clouds, vividly depicted in its powerful glory. The fine craftsmanship can be found in the details of the dragon’s exquisitely carved whisker and claws, with the rich color of the lacquer, making this piece full of solemnity and splendidness at the same time.
Marked as made in Qing Qianlong period, this box shows fine craftsmanship in the clearly carved petals, most likely serving as a cosmetic box. Agate is a rare material, with the artistic value of this piece, making this box a highly valuable object to be collected of Qianlong period.
Similar pieces are in the collection of the Beijing Palace museum, as well as in the Sackler Gallery in the US, and it is featured on the cover of Soame Jenyns’ Later Chinese Porcelain. The painting is complete and characteristic, highlighting the pastel painting style and technique from the Kangxi period of continuing a painting over the edge of a porcelain piece. The style influenced Yongzheng Qianlong porcelain and this is a top quality specimen of the bottom-painted kiln fired plates.
The entire body of this rectangular censor bearing auspicious beasts has the luster of jing paper, and the auspicious beasts are carved in low relief on the body. The censor is rectangular in shape, and the two sides bear beast handles. Low feet support the censor on all four corners, and piece is accompanied by a purple sandalwood base. The top features a decorated cover with openwork carving of intertwining branches, and there is an agate knob in the center of the cover. The body bears a simple, time-worn luster that gives it a timeless fascination.
This narcissus basin-shaped censor imitates the narcissus basin form commonly made by the Official and Ru kilns during the Song Dynasty. The ceramics in this form are typically either plain-bodied or have dragon handles, with this piece being an example of the latter. The sides of the piece are slightly drawn in, and the bottom features a protruding rim. There are four feet, and the upper portions of the feet are adorned with engraved ruyi and cloud patterns, which were made with a fine knife. The lip bears one cast hornless dragon handle on each side, and the dragons' mouths face each other. With crouching legs, the dragons appear fierce and powerful. The dragons wear ferocious expressions, and their hair is deeply incised. The bottom of the censor bears the open-frame cast inscription Made in the Xuan De reign of the Great Ming in standard script, and the strokes of the characters are clear and deep. The surface of this censor has an elegant time-worn appearance, and it is dark green with a hint of purple, giving it the look of an ancient piece.
The Longquan kilns are famous among the celadon kilns and were located within present-day Longquan city in Zhejiang province. These kilns fired their greatest works during the Song and Yuan periods. The bottle’s mouth rim is rounded, with sloped shoulders, and a pear shaped body terminating to a circular base. The bottle is both slender and full, standing upright with exquisite curves and beautiful lines. The material is fine and thickly thrown then celadon glaze is applied to the entire body. The glaze, in an olive-green color, is light and glossy. Iron colored spots have been randomly added over the celadon glaze. The size and tone of the spots are also irregular. This glaze is called fei-qing in Japan. This piece is an excellent representative of the Longquan kilns from the Jin Yuan period. The glaze is rich and the craftsmanship shows mastery. This piece is considered to be one of the finer works among the funnel tea bottles from the Longquan kilns, showing excellent production techniques that have been preserved to this day, making it especially precious.
Signed XUESHI in Chinese With two seals of the artist
The Yue kiln complex was the most famous producer of celadons during the Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties Period and early Northern Song Dynasty. Since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, Yue ware has gradually improved in quality, gaining itself a good reputation of being similar to ice and jade as well as ‘thousand peaks in emerald color’. As Yue kilns thrive in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties Period, vessels mimicking the shapes of gold and silver ware mushroomed. This dish is the most representative work of Yue kilns which has five bracket-lobes decorated with stem patterns in between, highlighting the feature of a foliate rim.
With shallow and arched sides rising from a countersunk base to an everted rim, this dish is finely carved on the interior with a medallion enclosing two large peony pads and blooms borne on extending branches and leaves. The base is faintly incised with a circular swirl, the body applied overall including the countersunk base with a moon-white glaze, the shape sedate and elegant. Yaozhou decoration features flower incising with oblique cuts, creating a stereoscopic effect.
As one of the “Five Great Wares” during the Song Dynasty, Ding ware is highly valued by collectors. This gracefully shaped dish has an everted rim divided into six bracket-lobes each centered with a sharp point. The rim, with a protruding band, is finely moulded with ruyiform clouds, the interior shaped to echo the rim, the flat center of the interior skillfully carved with a ruyi-form clouds band encircling a child at play. The child wearing a bellyband with a bowknot behind the neck is turning his/her head and stretching out over a group of lotus leaves, two lotus flowers moulded beside the child’s head and feet. Applied overall with a white glaze bright and smooth, this dish is unusually rare and valuable among Ding wares.
Mesua ferrea ironwood enjoys a long history in Chinese furniture. It is still found in well preserved heavy pieces and is an important material for those researching the origins of classical furniture. The texture of the ironwood used in this table suggests ripples in water. The legs drop straight down terminating in an internally turned foot characteristic of works from the 16th to the 17th century. The body is slender and the top material solid, presenting a beautifully crafted quaint and concise design. This table is representative of Ming ironwood furniture.
The overall sense of this table is both dignified and elegant. The piece is entirely rendered with vermillion lacquer applied with the linen and plaster technique. The contour screens are carved in the textured pattern commonly used in Chinese doors and windows. The original glossy finish has matured to sublime with age. The brush work on this fir and elm wood table is refined, revealing a surface pattern of broken lines suggesting cracks in ice. The outward curving apron edging meets the legs evenly and the legs descend strait to inwardlyturned feet, both of which are features characteristic of Ming furniture. The paint is unusually well preserved.
Potted with deep arched sides rising from a small round foot to an incurved rim, this bowl is covered overall with a celadon glaze of a yellowish-green tone unique to Yaozhou kilns. The interior is incised with two wheel-shaped petal lappets each radiating out from the center, the exterior with knotted rope patterns. The round foot is neatly worked, with the foot’s unglazed underside revealing the grey tint of the body. This celadon glaze is thin and transparent, giving a sense of elegance and pleasance.
This is a sky-blue glazed tea bowl of Ding ware. The small vessel is covered on the exterior with glaze except for the round foot, while the underside of the foot is also applied with glaze. This kind of practice is considered as the characteristic feature of Song Dynasty Jun ware. Jun ware uses opaque glaze, which makes distinct flowing traces. The glaze is especially thin around the rim, showing the dark color of the body, and close to the foot it becomes thicker. The exquisiteness of this lot's calcination craft shows Jun ware's status as one of the“Five Great Wares”.
The Jun kilns were important producers of ware in northern areas during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. They were located in Yu County of Xuchang City in Henan Province. Jun ware was highly luxurious. As the ancient Chinese saying goes, ‘Better have a piece of Jun ware than a great fortune’. Being one of the “Five Great Wares” during the Song Dynasty, Jun ware was brilliantly glazed with colors including rose violet, begonia red, eggplant purple, chicken blood red, grape purple, vermilion and lush green, mostly shaped into flower pots, flower pot holders, bowls and vases, displayed in Imperial Palaces of the Qing Dynasty.Potted with a globular body rising from a round foot to an incurved rim, this water pot has a lower center of gravity. The entire pot is covered in a thick and lustrous sky-blue glaze which gets thinner around the rim and the foot, revealing the light brown tint of the body. With a crude but graceful overall design, the pot appears to have classic beauty, making it a worthy addition to the collection of elegant stationary accessories.
The stand is potted with a cup-shaped receptacle surmounting a circular stepped flange supported on a splayed rounded foot. The receptacle is decorated with double-layered lotus patterns, creating an emboss effect. The stand is covered inside and out with a clear and crackled celadon glaze pooling to an azure green color at the recesses, the rim of the flange carved with lotus petals in harmony with the glaze, making it a representative work of the Yue kilns.
This Octagonal Chengni Inkstone of Tang dynasty was seen as an antique in Qing Qianlong period. The inksone is inscribed with a poem composed by Emperor Qianlong who was attracted to its vintage taste, making it a highly worthy addition to any collection of stationary accessories.
This tea bowl is shaped like an East Asian broad-brimmed hat, or douli, with a wide, outward-curving mouth raised on a small round foot. The exterior is covered overall with a brown glaze save for the foot, revealing the white brown tint of the body.The interior is glazed black, with iron-rust color splashed as decoration, giving a sense of elegance. This kind of decorative streaked black glaze is typical for Cizhou ware, popular among other kilns as well, especially Dangyangyu kilns in Henan.
This douli-shaped bowl was crafted by Cizhou kiln. White glaze is applied on the mouth with the rim delicately made. Half of the body is covered in black glaze, showing the other half in taupe color to the small round foot. Five rounded rust spots are applied evenly on the interior. White-rimmed bowls seem to be an imitation of Ding ware’s feature of lipped rim, representing how the people at that time tended to follow the trend of the aristocracy.
This zhadou’s rim is thin, curving slightly outwards, The upper part shaped as a trumpet, the lower part a jar with a very trim waist and full belly, and with a high foot and no glaze on the bottom. This ware is covered in black glaze and decorated evenly in vertical lines. The colors of the glaze and the lines stage a strong contrast. This kind of decoration is commonly seen in northern kilns, mostly on jars but rarely on zhadou, making this piece all the more precious.
This Octagonal Chengni Inkstone of Tang dynasty was seen as an antique in Qing Qianlong period. The inksone is inscribed with a poem composed by Emperor Qianlong who was attracted to its vintage taste, making it a highly worthy addition to any collection of stationary accessories.
2017 Sculpture, white marble, edition no. 1/6 15 (L) × 13 (W) × 44 (H) cm
Signed JIANGSHENG on the base, numbered 1/6, dated 2017 The sculpture is to be sold wit h a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist, issued by the artist's studio.
As the hierarch of the oriental Sukhavati, Bhaisajyaguru is the Buddha who rescues all the living creatures from illness and sufferings. This Bhaisajyaguru, sitting on the girdled lotus throne in the fulllotus position, has a fleshy and amiable face and unaffected and quiet look, with a humping spiral coil and in a two-shoulder cassock. Bhaisajyaguru lives in the oriental Sukhavati where the land is covered with pure colored glaze and the watch towers and palaces are composed of the Buddhist seven jewels. The territory is majestic and blissful, so the clothes are engraved to be normative and graceful, as if it is the illumination of the Buddha light.
The figure is dressed in a long snug robe clinging around the body and draping in loose folds over his legs, the chest detailed with a simple, low relief pointed torque, the round benevolent face finely carved with a broad nose, a meditative expression portrayed with slightly opening hooded eyes and beatific smile set between long earlobes, framed by a parted hairline below the domed ushnisha. This lot shows the characteristics of the figures of Buddha of Northern Qi dynasty, executed with fine craftsmanship. Due to long history the figure is not complete but yet, leaves space for viewers’ imagination with a mysterious vibe not unlike the famous Vénus de Milo.
The vase is well potted with a mallet-shaped body with sides tapering towards the short round foot from the canted shoulder. The tall slender neck is flanked by a pair of makara handles below the widely flared mouth with upturned rim, covered overall with an even glaze of soft plum-green tone save for the foot which is applied with a reddish-brown wash. The mallet-form vase was greatly admired by Chinese patrons during the Song Dynasty for the fine quality of its celadon glaze. The majority of these vases in Longquan kilns were made with two elaborate handles, either in the form of phoenix or fish, fewer in the form of makara. This plum green glaze is thick but transparent with a tone similar to emerald jade. Ceramics applied with such glaze were only produced during the southern Song dynasty, mostly imitating the shapes of jade and antique bronze wares, making them all the more valuable. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume 1b, p.304 The wide sides rising to a six-lobed rim, the cavetto applied with six vertical ribs radiating from the central medallion enclosing a pattern of two fish swimming in ripples, glazed allover in an ivory glaze with characteristic pooling to the exterior. With simple elegant design and fine craftsmanship, making it a highly worthy addition to the collection of Song dynasty Ding ware.
Of circular form, finely carved both on the cover and base with a large peony blossom surrounded by leaves and buds, the interior and the base lacquered black.
