A SLIP-DECORATED BROWN-GLAZED HENAN PEAR-SHAPED VASE JIN DYNASTY

set on a slightly splayed foot, the globular body rising to a long narrow neck and flared rim, applied overall with a variegated dark-brown glaze, mottling to a russet-green and thinning at the rim to a pale brown, boldly painted on each side of the body in a russet iron-oxide slip with a stylized bird in flight, the glaze stopping neatly around the foot to expose the light gray stoneware body

In overall good condition with typical wear and surface scratches, the longest of which measures 3.5 cm long. Firing imperfections scattered throughout, including burst glaze bubbles. A sample taken from the foot for testing.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Pear-shaped vases of this type were produced by the northern kilns during the Jin and Yuan dynasties. A similar example, dated to the Jin dynasty, was included in the exhibition Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Mass, 1994, cat. no. 52, where the author Robert Mowry notes that the decoration of only two birds in flight finds parallels with painted Cizhou wares depicting floral sprays of the 12th century, ibid, p. 160. See a Cizhou truncated meiping painted with two large peony leaf sprays formerly in the collection of Hans Popper, 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, 1980, cat. no. 89.

Bottles of related shape and decoration, with the birds sometimes stylized to the extent that they are misidentified as flowers, include one in the British Museum, illustrated in Margaret Medley, Yuan Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1974, pl. 109A; one in the collection of the Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen, included in the exhibition Mostra D'Arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 507; and two others illustrated in Mayuyama. Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, pls 592 and 593.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, C-Link Research & Development Limited, Hong Kong, sample no. 4593CE08.