A RARE IRON-SPLASHED ‘YUE’ FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT RAM, WESTERN JIN DYNASTY
China, 3rd century. The well-modelled ram with its front and rear legs folded beneath the body, with a curvaceous spine and robust rump, its head raised and with a pierced aperture on top, detailed with a pair of bulging eyes and curved striated horns encircling long ears, all highlighted with dark iron splashes and painted overall with a finely crackled olive-green glaze, the body neatly incised beneath the glaze with a pair of wings.


Provenance:
From the estate of a prominent Chinese musician in New York, USA.

Condition:
Excellent condition with some wear, encrustations, and firing flaws including kiln grit and glaze recesses.

Weight: 299.1 g
Dimensions: Length 11.5 cm


Expert’s note:
Stoneware figures of recumbent rams kneeling with their forelegs and their hind legs tucked in and covered in the same olive-green glaze, belong to a group of playful objects for the scholar’s desk made in kilns in northern Zhejiang and southern Jinagsu province. Numerous vessels of this type, in the form of various animals, have been recovered from tombs of the Three Kingdoms (220-265) and the Western Jin dynasty (265-316), suggesting they were treasured items.


Literature comparison:

A closely related figure was included in the exhibition Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, 6000 years of Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 1983, cat. no. 57. A closely related figure from the Barlow collection was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Ceramic Art of China, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1971, cat. no. 26. See also the ram with brown wash details excavated in 1980 at the Jianbi Brick and Tile Factory, Dantu County, Zhenjiang City, published in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji, vol. 7: Jiangsu Shanghai, 2008, no. 64, p. 53 (as early Yue ware, Eastern Jin dynasty, 16 cm long).


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s London, 6 November 2019, lot 127
Price: GBP 40,000 or approx.
EUR 60,500
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare ‘yue’ figure of a recumbent ram, Western Jin dynasty, 3rd century AD
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, glaze, and iron splashes. Note the larger size (16.3 cm).




西晉越窯青釉臥羊

中國，三世紀。羊作跪伏狀，昂首張口，雙耳長伸，卷角後彎，下顎貼塑鬍鬚，臀部上端貼印短尾，頭頂有一圓孔，中空。胎灰白色，釉色瑩潤，眼睛、嘴部、肌肉突出部點有褐彩。


來源：
美國紐約知名中國音樂家收藏。

品相：
狀況極好，有一些磨損、結殼和燒製缺陷，包括窯砂和釉面凹陷。

重量：299.1 克
尺寸：長11.5 釐米


專家注釋：
炻器上的公羊跪臥造型，前腿內收，覆蓋著淺綠色釉，屬於浙北、江南窯爐製作文案用品。 三國（220-265）和西晉（265-316）墓葬中出土了大量此類動物形狀的器皿，非常珍貴。


文獻比較：


一件非常相近的瓷羊，展覽於《Treasures from the Shanghai Museum，6000 years of Chinese Art》，舊金山亞洲博物館，1983年，圖錄編號57。一件非常相近的瓷羊，來自Barlow收藏，東方陶瓷學會，展覽於《The Ceramic Art of China，Victoria and Albert Museum》，倫敦，1971年，圖錄編號26。見棕斑瓷羊出土於1980年浙江丹徒區，《中國出土瓷器‧卷七‧江蘇上海》，2008年，編號64，頁53 (東晉越窰瓷器，長16 釐米)。


拍賣結果比較：

形制：相近
拍賣：倫敦蘇富比，2019年11月6日，lot 127
價格：GBP 40,000（相當於今日
EUR 60,500
）
描述：西晉三世紀越窰青釉臥羊水注
專家評論：比較非常相近的模像、釉面和鐵紅點。請注意尺寸較大 (16.3 釐米)。