Catalog (86)

This is an excellent example of one of the most sought-after kinds of porcelain snuff-bottles. It has a good jadeite stopper and dates from the Daoguang reign (1821-1850). On one side there is a typical close-up of a cricket and on the other a slightly more unusual depiction of a cricket climbing over its open cage. It has fanciful mask handles on each shoulder. Height: 6.3 cm; Width: 5.4 cm. Condition: Very good, with a small abraded patch to the glaze on the rim.

The compressed globular body is raised on three thick, tapered legs and divided into three lobes loosely carved with a floral scroll, rising to an everted rim set with two rope-twist handles. It is covered overall with a glaze of sea-green tone, in places suffused with minute bubbles. There is a circular aperture in the base, a characteristic which is occasionally found in censers of this form, presumably used to clean out the interior. It dates from the fifteenth century. A larger censer of...

This bowl exhibits all of the exuberance of taste that was characteristic of the Yuan dynasty. The Junyao potters who made this bowl have mastered the techniques of applying thick layers of glaze and allowing them to run with a daring freedom. Its a gorgeous thing to look at and to hold. Diameter: 19.2 cm Condition: Excellent with only minor wear. Ex IM Chait Auction Price: $2100 USD; $2700 CAD (HST of 13% will be applied on all sales in Canada).

This bowl with its slightly inturned rim, its controlled crackle and its greyish blue tone has characteristics of a late Song or Jin period product. But styles don’t end and begin conveniently with big political shifts and it may equally date from the Yuan dynasty, when there was a desire in the market for more Junyao bowls of a larger size. Whatever the exact time of its manufacture, it exhibits a fine balance of strength and good taste. Diameter: 18cm; Height: 8.3 cm. Condition: excelle...

In Song and Yuan times, these celadon bowls were extremely popular both in China itself and in island Southeast Asia. They remain popular today and this is an excellent example. The glaze has the depth and richness that Longquan Yao is famous for. The dish comes with a padded box that has been signed by Feng Xianming, curator of the Palace Museum in Beijing and one of the foremost authorities on Chinese porcelain in the mid-twentieth century. You can’t have better credentials than that! *Th...

Every collector should have a few of these Ming dynasty pottery burial figures in their collection. They are such a good bargain and they tell us so much about Chinese culture. Whereas the Tang dynasty figures are always rather theatrical, these Ming(1368-1644) attendants are resolutely realistic. They remind me of the bored professional mourners one still sees occasionally at funerals today. These two musicians are very good examples, with their robes covered in a slightly iridescent crackled g...

A Qingbai Porcelain Bowl with a Moulded Pattern of Waves and two Fish facing left under a Light Blue glaze, circa 13th Century. A good example of these popular twin-fish moulded dishes that were produced at Jingdezhen in the late Song and early Yuan period. This bowl was probably intended to be used as a brushwasher. It has a nice light blue glaze and the mouding is very clear. There is the residual mark of a copper rim that has been removed. Diameter: 16.5 cm; height: 4 cm. Condition: ...

This is a small Ding porcelain saucer dish with an elegant, incised floral decoration covered inside and out with a cream glaze. As with almost all Dingyao bowls and plates, the rim has been kept clear of glaze because it was stacked on its rim in the kiln. The Dingyao glazes are generally thin, and must have been quite difficult to control; in this case, some dust seems to have intruded, which makes it slightly rough to the touch. Price: $2100 USD, $2800 CAD (13% HST is applied to all sales in ...

A good example of the kinds of porcelaneous ware that were produced in large quantities at the ChangSha kilns at Tongguan in the eighth century. These have increased in value over the years and this is a very affordable piece. It is quite robustly potted and intended for the scholar’s table. The dark olive glaze is embellished with ten brown stripes. Diameter: 5.5 cm. Condition: good and intact; the glaze, though rough, retains much of its brightness. Price: $600 USD; $795 CAD (HST of ...

A Tang Dynasty (618-907CE) moulded pottery figure of a boar, which, as with all these figures, captures the immediacy of the animal’s presence. Height: 6cm; length: 13cm. Condition: Intact and good with no repairs. Price: $400 USD; $530 CAD (HST of 13% will be applied on all sales in Canada).

A Tang Dynasty (618-907CE) moulded pottery figure of a sleeping duck. It is roughly made but the immediacy of the potter’s observation catches the life of the bird. Price: $260 USD; $340 CAD (HST of 13% will be applied on all sales in Canada). Height: 5 cm; width:5 cm. Condition: Intact and good with no repairs.

These Tang Dynasty (618-907CE) pottery figure groups were roughly moulded, but are full of vitality. This example has been cold painted with a white pigment over the grey low-fired pottery. Length: 14.6 cm; width: 7.9cm. Price: $400 USD; $530 CAD (HST of 13% will be applied to all sales in Canada). Condition: Intact and good with no repairs; typical wear to the pigment.

The ram is depicted at rest with its legs folded under its body. These animal figurines played an important part in Chinese burial practices. Very similar ram figurines, frequently with an early celadon yueyao glaze, are quite common in the Jin dynasties, a century or so later (there are nice examples in the New York Metropolitan Museum and the Shanghai Museum). This one appears to have been cold painted with a white slip, traces of which still remain. Length: 13.2 cm; width: 6.4 cm. Condi...

A small double handled pottery bowl. It dates to the Machang phase of the Majiayao culture from present day Gansu province, 2300-2000 BCE. The buff-coloured body is thin and delicate, decorated in geometric patterns in fired-on black, brown and purple mineral-based pigments. Height: 8 cm;Diameter: 12.8 cm. Condition: Fine and intact with no repairs. Minor wear to the pigments and along the rim. Price: USD $450; CAD $585 (13% HST will be applied on all sales in Canada)