A rare molded Qingbai ewer and cover, Southern Song dynasty

Sotheby's London, 7th November 2007, lot 277.

It is extremely rare to find Qingbai ewers decorated with over-lapping upright lotus petals, a design more closely associated with the refined austerity of Song-dynasty Ding wares. See a Ding ewer in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu [Ceramic Art of the World], vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 152, together with a Ding vase carved with over-lapping upright leaves encircling the body, excavated from the Ding kiln sites in Hebei, pl. 131.

The shape of the present ewer echoes contemporary metalwork prototypes, translating the strength and precision of bronze into porcelain form. For closely related examples, see the celebrated ewer and warmer excavated from a tomb at Susong, Anhui province, illustrated in Historical Relics Unearthed in New China, Beijing, 1972, pl. 175, notable for its leaf-shaped collar at the shoulder; and another excavated from a tomb dated to A.D. 1087 in the same county, published in Sekai toji zenshu, op. cit., pl. 152, with a closely comparable cover. Compare also a Qingbai ewer carved with petals on the foot and cover in the British Museum, London, from the Eumorfopoulos Collection, included in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, col. pl. 16.