A RARE 'YAOZHOU' FLOWER-SHAPED ZHADOU NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY

the wide mouth folded over and skilfully moulded into the form of a six-petalled flower, above a broad band of carved lappets at the neck and a stylised peony scroll at the bulbous lower body, all supported on a short splayed foot, covered all over in an even olive-green glaze

Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990-91, cat.no.93.
Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat.no. 71.

Three zhadou of similar design, excavated at the 'Yaozhou' kiln site, are illustrated in The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period, Beijing, 1998, pl. LXVIII, with line drawings on p. 256, fig. 128.  A similar zhadou in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 76; one in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 7, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 104; and one with a pierced foot was included in the exhibition The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, cat.no. 32.

 A zhadou of this form was sold  in our New York rooms, 18th September 1996, lot 177; and another very similar one at Christie's London, 9th July 1979, lot 200.