A LARGE 'CIZHOU' PAINTED VASE JIN DYNASTY

the rounded body supported on a high spreading foot and surmounted by a tall neck with a boldly flared scalloped rim, applied overall with a white slip stopping neatly at the foot, freely painted around the body in iron-brown with leafy sprays between further registers similarly painted around the neck and foot, covered overall in a transparent glaze, Japanese wood box

Hirano Kotoken.

Chugoku Meito Hyakuten / Chinese Ceramics, A Loan Exhibition of One Hundred Selected Masterpieces, Takashimaya, Osaka, 1961, cat. no. 28.
To So Meito Ten / Masterpieces of Tang and Song Ceramics, Shirokiya, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 177.
Jishuyou Meihin Ten / Masterpieces of Cizhou Wares, Osaka Bijutsu Club, Osaka, 1969, cat. no. 9.

There is restoration to the scalloped rim. There is also a band of overpainting around the foot covering a shallow chip with an associated crack approx. 7cm., and some of the painting has flaked off. There is a 3.2cm long scratch on the central bulb and overall wear to the surface which is consistent with age and use.
"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 ranks among the largest Cizhou wares and is most impressive for its innovative form and the strong contrast of its black painting against the white-slip ground. Vases of similar form and black-painted decoration are very rare, although they are represented in a few famous collections worldwide, with variations in size, proportion and designs. Compare a smaller vase included in exhibition catalogue by Yutaka Mino, 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, 1980, pl. 78. Mino also illustrates four other small Cizhou vases of this form, one excavated in Pacun near Yuxian county, Henan, one in the Royal Ontario Museum, one in the Shanghai Museum, and one in a private Japanese collection, ibid., figs. 206-209.

Also related is a black-painted vase of similar form found at the Guantai kiln site in Cixian, Hebei, during excavations carried out jointly by the Department of Archaeology, Peking University, and Hebei archaeologists, illustrated in The Cizhou Kiln Site at Guantai, Beijing, 1997, cover and pl. 10. Compare also two vases of similar form, but respectively with black glaze and low-fired green glaze, illustrated in Haku to koku no kyōen/Charm of Black and White Ware. Transition of Cizhou type wares, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 2002, cat. no. 142, and included in the exhibition Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries of Northern China, op. cit., cat. no. 96.