A qingbai-glazed lobed ewer


Song DynastyElegantly potted with an eight-lobed body rising to a tall cylindrical neck flaring at the rim, set on one side with a slender, curving spout opposite a strap handle with a small ring at the top, decorated with an incised band just below the rim, a lightly incised series of lines around the mid-section of the body, covered overall with a transparent pale-blue glaze pooling to a darker tone within the recesses, the base and footrim unglazed. 22.5cm (8 7/8in) high.
|宋 青白釉瓜棱式水注Inspired by Middle Eastern glass and metal prototypes, this ewer is a fine example of Qingbai wares. A related ewer was excavated from a Song dynasty tomb at Yanshan near Shaowu in Fujian Province, and is illustrated in Kaogu, 1981:5, pl.11, fig.8. Published examples of this form include one from the Yokogawa collection in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum, vol.1, no.378; another in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl.417; a third in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, 1994, pp.272-273, no.118; one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London is illustrated by R.Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pp.96-97, no.97; and another in the British Museum, in Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 2002, pp.120-121, no.61. See also several more similar qingbai ewers, Song dynasty, illustrated in Mayuyama: 70 Years, vol.1., Tokyo, 1976, p.145, pls.422-425. Compare with a similar qingbai 'lobed' ewer and cover, Northern Song dynasty, formerly in the collection of Sakamoto Goro, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 17 March 2015, lot 3.