A large 'Qingbai' ewer and cover, Yuan dynasty. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
the pyriform body rising to a tall gently flaring neck, supported on a splayed foot, the body set with a slender curved spout issuing from the mouth of a dragon, connected to the body by an elaborate S-shaped strut set opposite a high arched handle formed by the scaled body of a dragon-fish, its serpentine horn forming a small loop for attaching the cover terminating in radiating scales reinforcing the base, the body applied and incised to either side with a phoenix in flight, above a band of upright lappets containing ruyi heads, the neck collared by a key-fret band and slip-painted upright petal lappets below the rim, fitted with a stepped domed cover and a small eyelet for attachment to the ewer, surmounted by a seated playfully-ribbon-entangled lion-form knop, all beneath a pale blue transparent glaze (2). Height 12 3/4 in., 32.4 cm
Provenance: Acquired in the 1970s or 80s.
Note: A very similar ewer and cover from the Meiyintang Collection was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 39. A ewer of the same form and decoration but lacking a cover in the Tokyo National Museum is illustrated in Yutaka Mino, Hakuji [White Porcelain], vol. 5, Tokyo, 1998, col. pl. 79.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 15 sept. 2015