A RARE 'YUE' 'BEAR' BOTTLE WESTERN JIN DYNASTY

the hollow globular vessel surmounted by an upturned mouthrim, modeled in the form of animated bear clutching a ball in its front right paw, his fur marked with incisions, applied with a greyish celadon glaze

This charming bottle belongs to a group of Yue wares in the form of animated bears; see one unearthed in Jiangning county, Jiangsu province, and now in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji. Toaci [The Complete Series on Chinese Art. Ceramics], vol. 1, Shanghai, 1988, pl. 189; another in the Nien-Hsi Foundation, included in the Special Exhibition of Early Chinese Greenware. Principally Yueh Ware, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 214; a third sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1986, lot 22; and a further example, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics I. Neolithic to Liao, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 58, and sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 595.