A LARGE AND SUPERBLY CARVED QINGBAI 'LOTUS' MEIPING SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY |

well potted, the ovoid body rising from a narrow tapered foot to a broad rounded shoulder surmounted by a short ribbed neck narrowing to a lipped rim, the body freely carved with a luxuriant floral scroll of long undulating foliate stems bearing large lotus heads, all on a finely combed ground, enclosed within incised concentric double-line borders at the foot and shoulder, covered overall with a pale bluish glaze, pooling in the carved recesses and stopping neatly at the foot ring to reveal the pale white body, Japanese wood box (3)

Mayuyama, Tokyo, prior to 1976. 

Chūgoku Meito Hyaku-sen [One Hundred Masterworks of Chinese Ceramics exhibition], The Nikkei, Takashimaya, Osaka, 1961, cat. no. 44.  Chugoku Kotōji Tō-Sō Meitoten [Chinese Ceramics Tang-Song Masterworks exhibition], The Japan Ceramic Society, Shirakiya, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 146.

Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, Kobe, 1968.      

Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 449.

There is a large Y-shaped crack at the shoulder measuring apprx. 25 cm at its longest, and a small associated star crack. There is a horizontal patch of infill and overspray near the crack, and two areas of infill at the flange likely to fill glaze gaps. Overall with minor wear and firing imperfections consistent with age and type.
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.

This vase is remarkable for its brilliant translucent glaze, thinly applied over a luxuriant peony scroll and a finely combed ground. It is rare to find qingbai meiping of such large proportions, and those carved with this peony design are particularly unusual.  

A vase of similar proportions, but carved with a composite floral scroll, was included in the exhibition Qingbai Wares of the Song Dynasty, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1994, cat. no. 39; another, unearthed from a Southern Song dynasty hoard at Suining, Sichuan province, was included in the exhibition Fūin sareta Nansō tōji ten/Newly Discovered Southern Song Ceramics: A Thirteenth-Century “Time Capsule”, Odakyū Art Museum, Tokyo, 1998, cat. no. 61; one with lotus, in the Art Institute of Chicago, is illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshū / Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 167, together with a meiping in the Tokyo National Museum, pl. 314.

 

Meiping of this type are also known of smaller size: one in the Sichuan Provincial Museum, Chengdu, is illustrated in Zhongguo ciqi quanji [The complete works of Chinese ceramics], vol. 8, Shanghai, 1999, pl. 179; and another with a peony scroll, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, is illustrated in Stacey Pierson, Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, pl. 85.