A white glazed 'cizhou' lotus-petal carved ewer Northern Song Dynasty, 11th Century

the well-potted body of almost hemispherical form, with four rows of overlapping lotus petals boldly carved in high relief, the broad shoulders decorated to match with overlapping petals radiating from a stepped collar at the base of the cylindrical neck, with a high arching strap handle joining the neck to the shoulder on one side, opposite an upward slanting faceted tubular spout, covered all over with a creamy white slip under a clear glaze, the glaze ending unevenly around the cylindrical base resting on a wedge-shaped footrim, the unglazed stoneware body burnt to a pale tan brown color in the firing, the glaze thinning to a lighter tone over the sharp edges of the petal motifs giving crisp definition to the design

Compare the more elaborately carved Cizhou ewer of related type, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu (Ceramic Art of the World), Tokyo, 1975, Vol. 12, no. 224. Compare also the ewer of the same type with more elaborate design, in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum-Chinese Ceramics, Vol. 1, Tokyo, 1988, no. 546, p. 136, and again by Yutaka Mino in Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Nothern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Bloomington, 1980, pl. 10, p. 45.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the results of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford Authentication Ltd., no. P102h77.