Provenance:Property from a Midwest American collection.Note:Brown glazes were utilized at several northern Chinese kilns in the Song and early Jin periods, including the Ding and Yaozhou kilns, and seem to have been especially admired on vases and forms associated with the tea ceremony. The Gegu Yaolun, published in AD 1388, notes that 'purple' (i.e. brown) and black Ding ware even more expensive than white Ding wares. See Sir Percival David, Chinese Connoisseurship - The Ko Ku Yao Lun, London, 1971, p. 141.A similarly glazed tea cup and saucer set of a different form can be found at the Victoria and Albert Museum. For a covered tea bowl of similar glaze, see Christie's sale in their New York rooms on 26th March 2010, lot 1331.