A rare 'Huozhou' white-glazed vase, Jin dynasty

Sotheby's London, 12th July 2006, lot 56.

Rising boldly yet elegantly from a smooth bulbous body to a gently flaring mouth, the present vase is a rare and exemplary upright form from the height of production at China’s northern kilns, specifically the kilns in Huozhou, Shanxi province. Inspired by the celebrated Ding wares of Hebei, the Huozhou kilns were renowned for producing fine quality wares covered in lustrous, creamy-white glaze. Unlike bowls and dishes of the period which typically rely on carved or molded designs to lend depth and movement to the piece, the present vase remains unadorned but for two subtle bowstrings around the neck and traces of the potter’s knife.

Usually categorized as a yuhuchunping (‘Jade bottle spring vase’), the present form was among the most celebrated vase designs of the Northern Song period and produced in major kiln sites across the kingdom including Dingzhou, Yaozhou and the Jun kilns of Henan. Compare, for example, a Jun-glazed vase preserved in the Qing Court Collection in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 217.

White-glazed vases of this form are exceptionally rare. See a closely related Huozhou vase, but of a fuller and more voluptuous form, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 2nd May 2025, lot 993. Compare a very closely related Ding vase with a bowstring design just below the upper rim from the collection of Carl Kempe sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 267 and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26th November 2014, lot 3222; and a slightly smaller vase from the collection of Hirano Kokoten, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2023, lot 3503.