A Henan celadon handled cup, Song-Yuan dynasty (960-1368). Estimate HK$400,000 – HK$600,000 ($51,863 - $77,795). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015.
The cup is well potted with rounded sides rising from a flat base with a circular recessed centre, and applied along one edge of the rim with a bracket-shaped flange above a loop ring, covered overall under a crackled greyish-celadon glaze with the exception of the three spur marks on the base. 5 1/2 in. (13.8 cm.) long
Notes: The development of thick-glazed celadon was a major breakthrough in ceramic productions in the late Northern Song dynasty. According to ceramic archaeologist Qin Dashu, the Ru ware at Qingliangsi village, Baofeng county first employed this technique in producing fine bluishgreen celadon wares, exclusively for the Northern Song court. This technique soon proliferated to celadon kilns in central Henan region including kilns in Ruzhou, Yuzhou, and Lushan. The present quzhi cup with its fine crackled semi-opaque glaze was probably produced at Donggou kiln in Ruzhou city. Ruzhou has a long tradition of celadon production. The early products display features of Yaozhou celadon in terms of decoration and glaze type, and is named after the old administrative name of Ruzhou as Linru ware. In the late Northern Song period, potters in Ruzhou created new types of celadon to overcome limitations of Yaozhou-type glaze. The thick, semi-opaque glaze, as represented by the present piece, enriched the visual appeal of celadon and renders a jade-like tactile quality.
The quzhi cup of the present form is modelled after metal wares. Metal forms such as barbed-rim dish, shallow oblong plate with lobed rim, and quzhi cup were popular among major Northern kilns in the Song-Jin period. These products are often of high quality and were most likely commissioned by the wealthy social elites or even the court. Tsai Meifen from the National Palace Museum pointed out that quzhi cups of the present form were official wine vessels in both Song and Jin dynasties and were used by the Southern Song court to entertain delegates from the Jin court. A Ding ware quzhi cup, likely to have been fired on its mouth rim, from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated and discussed in Tsai Meifen, Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou. White Ding Wares from the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, p. 147. A Jun ware quzhi cup, showing three large spur marks on the underside base, is illustrated in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji (Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China), Beijing, 2008, vol. 12, p. 155. Compare also a dark-bodied Longquan version that was fired on a ring foot, illustrated in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji (Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China), Beijing, 2008, vol. 9, p. 191.
CHRISTIE'S. THE PAVILION SALE - CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, 6 October 2015, 22nd Floor