A rare Jizhou reverse-painted 'lion' vase, Southern Song dynasty 南宋 吉州窰深褐地白花獅子戲球蓮紋長頸瓶

Boldly painted in swift brushwork with pairs of whimsical Buddhist lions amidst continuous scrolls of lotus and furled leaves, the present vase is particularly notable for its black-coffee brown glaze that provides a striking contrast with the decoration in white reserve. See a Southern Song Jizhou meiping decorated with a related white lotus pattern against a black background, excavated from Chaohu, Anhui, now preserved in the Anhui Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci shi [History of Chinese ceramics], Beijing, 1982, reprint 2006, col. pl. 19. Compare also a bottle vase decorated with lotus from the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, Vol. I, pl. 520.

本瓶瓶身繪一對佛獅嬉戲，配以蓮紋及卷葉紋，筆法迅捷爽朗，深褐地色與白花對比鮮明，甚為獨特。比較安徽巢湖出土南宋吉州黑地白花梅瓶作例，蓮紋與本品相近，現藏安徽博物館，圖鑑《中國陶瓷史》，北京，1982年，2006年再版， 彩色圖版19。玫茵堂亦藏一例，飾蓮紋，圖載於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國瓷器珍藏》，倫敦，1994-2010年，卷1，圖版520。