A 'CIZHOU' SGRAFFIATO 'PEONY' MEIPING NORTHERN SONG/JIN DYNASTY |

the tapering baluster body rising from a recessed base to a rounded shoulder and narrow short neck with broad everted rim, carved around the exterior through the brown and black glaze with a broad leafy peony scroll, all reserved on a white ground between stylised key-fret and lotus lappet bands

This striking meiping has been broken into several pieces and restored.
"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."

Boldly carved with a floral scroll fired to a purplish-brown tone on one side and deep black on the other, this jar belongs to a distinct group of Cizhou wares decorated with sgraffiato floral motifs. This technique involved the application of two different-coloured slips – a layer of white followed by a layer of black slip. The motif was carefully carved through the black sip to reveal the white layer beneath. Fragments of meiping decorated with this technique have been unearthed at the Guantai kilns in Henan province, and illustrated in The Cizhou Kiln Site at Guantai, Beijing, 1997, col pl. XXI, fig. 2 (top right). The present vase is unusual for the keyfret band above the foot, a motif that probably derives from the square spiral pattern commonly found on archaic bronze wares. While bands of keyfret are relatively common on Cizhou sgraffiato wares, they seldom appear on meiping of this type. Compare a vase with slightly rounder shoulders and lacking the keyfret, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon, London, 1984, pl. 62a; a slightly larger one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 88; another in the Worcester Art Museum, included in the exhibition Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz’u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1981, cat. no. 39; and a further vase in the Kyoto National Museum, illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshū / Ceramic Art of the World, 1955, vol. 10, pl. 94.