China, Ming dynasty or earlierDimensions: 10.5" (26.67cm) HA cizhou ceramic handled jar dating to the Ming dynasty or earlier. Of ovoid shape, the jar includes a short neck with a set of four handles. The body of the jar is decorated with a four-character calligraphy motif encircling the width and horizontally bookended with bold striations. The base and foot of the jar is glazed in black, and the top of the jar features petal-like brushstrokes. The foot ring and base is unglazed and lightly burned during firing. The cizhou technique began production from the Song dynasty onwards and is typified by black painted decoration on a coarse grayish-white body. Examples such as this include painted decoration, but other cizhou types also include decoration that is incised or cut through the glaze. Production centers of cizhou wares during the Song dynasty are in northern China north of the Yellow River in present-day Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, and Gansu provinces. Cizhou wares were typically produced for daily use and form types include jars, basins, pots, bowls, pillows, and domestic utensils. Provenance:H.H. Pao Collection, Toronto多倫多鮑恆發家族珍藏H.H. Pao 鮑恆發 (Sear Hang Hwei Pao) (1937-2009) is recognised as one of Canada’s most revered dealers and collectors of Chinese art during the second half of the twentieth century. The Pao & Moltke gallery was an institution in Toronto’s prestigious Yorkville neighbourhood for over forty years and was frequented by Chinese art collectors, academics, and curators alike. Mr. Pao is of Shanghainese descent and came from a long line of Chinese art collectors. His father in particular had a well-known collection of Chinese Huanghuali furniture. Surrounded by art throughout his childhood, Mr. Pao was inspired to study at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, in the 1950s. It was there that he met his future wife and business partner, Countess Nadia von Moltke-Kirsten. Together they studied at the Academy of Arts, Berlin, for another four years.In the late 1960s, Mr. Pao and his wife moved to Toronto and opened the Peking Gallery at Church and Gerrard. In the 1970s, they changed the gallery’s name to Pao & Moltke Ltd., relocating to Yorkville Avenue, before finally moving to its iconic location at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel where it remained until his retirement in 2006.Although Mr. Pao dealt in a wide range of Asian artwork, his primary passion was ceramic figures and vessels from the Han (206 BC-220 AD) to Tang (618-907 AD) dynasties. In Toronto, his inventory of early Chinese ceramics was arguably only surpassed by the holdings of the Royal Ontario Museum. Many of these objects were acquired through his travels to China from the 1970s and cities such as New York, London, and Hong Kong.古董商鮑恆發 (H.H.Pao) 高古瓷器珍藏鮑恆發 (H.H.Pao) (1937-2009) 被公認為是20世紀下半葉加拿大最受尊敬的中國藝術品交易商和收藏家之一。其所經營的Pao＆Moltke藝廊，坐落於多倫多著名的約克維爾 (Yorkville) 高端社區，歷經40餘載，生意興隆，門庭若市。營業期間，受到眾多中國藝術收藏家，業界名流，學者和策展人的頻繁造訪，可謂“笑談有鴻儒，往來無白丁”。其中香港著名古董藏家張宗憲每次到多倫多，必定造訪鮑先生的藝廊。鮑先生是上海人，來自頂級中國藝術品收藏世家。鮑先生的父親以其精品中國黃花梨家具收藏而聞名。鮑先生在整個童年時代都被藝術所包圍，長期的耳濡目染，使他決定於1950年代進入德國斯圖加特國家美術學院學習。在這裡，他遇到了未來的妻子和商業夥伴納西婭·馮·莫爾特克·基爾斯滕伯爵夫人 (Countess Nadia von Moltke-Kirsten)，並一同在柏林藝術學院度過了四年的進修時光。1960年代後期，鮑先生及夫人來到多倫多定居。在教堂街 (Church St.) 和杰拉德街 (Gerrard st.) 開設了北京藝廊 (Peking Gallery)，後於1970年代將藝廊的更名為Pao＆Moltke Ltd.，遷至約克維爾大街，最終移至位於多倫多四季酒店的標誌性位置後，持續營業直到其2006年退休為止。在鮑先生經手過的眾多精美亞洲藝術品中，他偏愛從漢代 (公元前206年至220年) 到唐代(公元618年至907年) 的陶瓷造像及器物。在多倫多，鮑先生的的高古中國陶瓷收藏質量，從廣度與深度上來講，或許只有皇家安大略博物館的庫藏才可與之相提並論。鮑先生私人珍藏中許多藏品都為其70年代往來穿梭於中國，紐約，倫敦及香港的藝術品尋寶之旅途中所獲。明或更早 磁州窯四系罐