A LARGE, BRIGHT BLUE CARVED 'QINGBAI' BALUSTER VASE NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 11TH/ 12TH CENTURY

the baluster-shaped body raised on a flaring foot, the straight neck opening into a wide, eight-lobed flower-shaped rim with down-turned petal tips, the body carved in low relief with a lush peony scroll with three blooms among densely sprouting foliage, each encircled by a scrolling stem, the petals and leaves with incised veining, the neck with a band of upright petals between double raised ribs and the neck inside with radiating lines of slip to separate the petals, and the whole piece covered with a transparent glaze that has pooled to an intense light turquoise blue in recessed areas, the base largely free of glaze and showing a broad brown-burnt ring from the firing support



in Japanese ribbon-tied paulownia-wood box with sliding cover, lined and fitted with purple silk, with matching inner cover, ribbon-tied black-lacquered outer box and cover and brown cotton furoshiki with inscribed wooden tag

Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo.

Chūgoku Sō Gen bijutsu ten/Chinese Arts of the Sung and Yuan Periods, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1961, cat. no. 239.

Chūgoku meiji ten/Chinese Ceramics. A Loan Exhibition of Selected Masterpieces, Fukuya, Hiroshima, 1961, cat. no. 35.

Chūgoku ko tōji. Tō Sō meiji ten [Ancient Chinese ceramics: Exhibition of important Tang and Song ceramics], Shirokiya Department Store, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 144.

Bi no bi [The beauty of beauties], Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo, 1967 (no cat. no.).

Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of Song and Yuan], Osaka Municipal Art Museum, Osaka, 1978, cat. no. 1-119.

Chūgoku no tōji/Special Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 161.

Sōdai no aojiro ji/Qingbai Wares of Song Dynasty, The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1994, cat. no. 31.

Tōyō tōji meihin ten/Masterworks of Eastern Ceramics, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, 1994, cat. no. 41.

Sō ji [Song ceramics], Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo; The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka; Hagi Uragami Museum, Hagi; 1999, cat. no. 48.

Chūgoku tōji. Bi wo miru kokoro /Chinese ceramics, Enlightening through Beauty, Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 2006, cat. no. 29.

Sekai bijutsu zenshū [Complete series on world art], Tokyo, 1965, vol. 6, pl. 125.

Kōyama Fujiō, Tōki Kōza [Lectures on ceramics], vol. 6: Chūgoku II. Sō [China II. Song], Tokyo, 1971, pl. 90.

Satō Masahiko, Tōji taikei [Outlines of ceramics], vol. 3: Hakuji [White wares], Tokyo, 1975, pl. 60.

Ryūsen Shūhō/Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 419.

Hasebe Gakuji, Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12: Sō/Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 32.

Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of the Song and Yuan], Tokyo, 1980, pl. 129.

Chūgoku tōji no hassennen [8,000 years of Chinese ceramics], Tokyo, 1992, pl. 18.

Mino Yutaka, Chūgoku no tōji [China's ceramics], vol. 5: Hakuji [White wares], Tokyo, 1998, pl. 67, with a detail illustrated on the dust jacket.

 

This rare vase is in fair overall condition with the exception of overpainting to the interior and exterior of the neck from the upright petal band to the foliate rim, and minor glaze crazing around the body. It should be noted that the glaze is of a slightly lighter and brighter blue tone than the catalogue illustration would suggest.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This vase is remarkable for the attractive intense coloration of the qingbai glaze, which is extremely rare. Qingbai, the bluish-white glaze created by the Raozhou kilns of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, received its distinctive bluish tone through reduction firing in a wood-fired kiln. The bluish tone is generally, however, no more than a hint in a colourless, transparent glaze.

 

This shape with its distinctive flower-shaped rim became popular in the Northern Song period and appeared at kilns both in north and south China. The Raozhou kilns at Jingdezhen were otherwise much better known for their production of bowls; vases of any kind are rare and the present one is a particularly large example.

 

Although vases of this general form exist in even larger sizes, they are then generally less carefully executed and decorated with simpler abstract scroll designs; see a vase illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999,  vol. 1, pl. 57, or a pair sold in our New York rooms, 19^th September 2001, lot 129.