Catalog (37)

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 is a fine purple-splashed Junyao jar with two small strap handles, Jin or Yuan dynasties, China (C12-13). As expected, it is heavily potted and it has a beautifully thick blue glaze. There is a purple splash to the front with the glaze endling unevenly at the foot and revealing the rich red stoneware body at the base. At the upper rim the glaze has thinned and been altered to a brownish green colour which is also found on the two handles. Ex: I.M. Chait. Size: diameter 13.5 cm, h: 13.8 c...

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...

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 ...

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).

A stunning piece of Qingbai porcelain like this one is rare to find nowadays. The glaze has a rich bluish green colour which offers a jade like effect. With its impressed lotus motif on the exterior of the body, this bowl is dated to the Yuan dynasty when these floral patterns were common. The incised design is very assured and full of vitality. Diameter: 15.5 cm. Condition: Good. No chips, no repairs. There is a firing crack to the rim, and discolouration to the exposed clay at the base. ...

These ear cups - erbei - originally coated with a green lead glaze, have developed a very attractive iridescence over many years of burial. This form, used for drinking wine, was made in a variety of different materials in the eastern Han Dynasty (25-220CE), bronze, jade, glass, lacquer, and, of course, ceramics. These two cups are moulded on the exterior with a wave pattern and a saw tooth band below the rim, imitating the decoration on a bronze model. Length: 11 and 11.5 cm. Condition: One ...

Very little seems to have been written in English about these brown-glazed boxes with moulded lids. I bought this from a Japanese collector who believed it to be Vietnamese, since siimilar boxes were produced in Vietnam during the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries. But the clay is quite different and more gritty than the smooth grey paste used in Vietnamese ceramics. Apparently these Fujian boxes were exported to Southeast Asia and competed there with the Vietnamese variants. They are unusual and un...

A rare and unusual “Ordos” bronze pin from one of the nomadic cultures located on China’s north-western borders in the first millennium BCE. It represents a ferocious animal, possibly a wolf, standing on two orbs. The decorations on its flanks and neck indicate the animal’s hair. It may have been intended as a decorative ornament, or it may have been a tool used for leather-work. Length: 8.7 cm. Condition: Excellent, with a deep patina, and a small patch of verdigris. Purchased 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 ...

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...

The Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 AD- 589 AD) are often considered the most chaotic period of time in Chinese history. However, the cultural diversification of Chinese and Non-Chinese (mainly Nomadic minorities from the north and the west) inspired the arts and cultural creations which influenced the whole of China (Zhongyuan), including the funeral industry. This tomb figure is of a typical foreigner servant or groom, standing with a distinguishing hat that only the non-Han people (Hu...

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.

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 rare composite eye bead made during the Warring States Period, circa 481 to 221 BC. The composite type of Warring States bead is made with a thin layer of glass overlaid on a clay or ceramic material core. There are five small white glass eyes around each of the larger eyes which are made of stratified layers of blue on top of white glass. This elaborate style of bead was only made during a narrow window of time in Henan province and apparently never made again. Dimensions: width, 21mm; hei...

A rare composite eye bead made during the Warring States Period, circa 481 to 221 BC. The composite type of Warring States bead is made with a thin layer of glass overlaid on a clay or ceramic material core. This one is in especially good condition. From every aspect the frame of rich brown intersecting lines creates an almost mask-like structure for the blue and white, or yellow, raised eyes. This elaborate style of bead was only made during a narrow window of time in Henan province. Dimensi...

This Sancai plate dated to Liao - Jin period (1115-1125), features an incised Haitang flower with open leaves around it in the centre. Begonia is the type of flower that is commonly seen in other Liao Sancai wares. The flower is coloured white with a bright red pistil surrounded by a cream glazed circle. There is no restoration. Abrasion and some glaze flakes on the rim, which is normal considering the age and the nature of the glaze. Diameter: 12.5 cm Condition: Some glaze flakes on the rim,...

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.

This small but elegant late Qing Geyao vase is in double gourd (Hulu) shape. The green to grey glaze with a pleasing pattern of dark brown crackle lines, covers the whole vase, inside and out, with the exception of the foot rim. Size: Height: 10.7 cm. Condition: Excellent condition, with only light scratches to the glaze. Purchased in Hong Kong in 1995. Price: USD $260; CAD $350 (13% HST will be applied on all sales in Ontario.)

Diameter: 13.97 cm Condition: Good. Two Chinese characters marked at the base: Wu Zhai. Price: USD $120; CAD $160 (13% HST will be applied on all sales in Canada).

A must-have Qingbai porcelain piece. Diameter: 13.8 cm Condition: Good, no chips, no repairs. A small firing crack at the base.Price: USD $100; CAD $135 (13% HST will be applied on all sales in Canada).

This small but fine piece belongs to the Maklaiheung's QingBai Collections. About Qingbai Wares: "The special characteristic comes from the body, which is natural porcelain clay, and its glaze, which is made by diluting in water the porcelain body material mixed with lime." "Rims on qingbai bowls and dishes were also sometimes fitted with a silver band in the same manner as the Northern Ding wares, to cover the unglazed rims."- Gotheborg Condition: Good. No sign of repair or restorati...

These roughly potted Jizhou tea bowls embody the Song aesthetic and have always been highly sought after. The body is of conical form and burnt ochre at the foot. The lovely calligraphic design has a lovely freedom to it. It is splashed on in a very painterly way, representing prunus blossom with a sketchily painted moon in the sky above. These Jizhou tea bowls, along with Jian Kiln tea bowls, were of the prized tea ceremony wares among Song literati. Ex. Tse collection, Montreal; Richie�...

A rare green-glazed dragon-handled porcelaneous tripod vessel (Jiaodou) from the Yueyao kilns, eastern Jin dynasty. The head of the dragon is carved very expressively This is an extremely rare censer form that probably derives originally from a bronze shape; more examples have been found in bronze than in ceramics. The Yueyao kilns were the first in China to develop a porcellaneous body and glaze. The glaze on this example is typical of Yue production in the Jin period, a beautifully soft greyi...

With a lustrous, light blue glaze all over, this beautiful Qingbai cosmetic box represents the high standard that Qingbai porcelain achieved in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). It is in the form of fluted chrysanthemum petals and on the cover there is a single chrysanthemum flower moulded in the centre. Diameter: 8.5 cm Condition: Excellent, no chips, no cracks. A museum inventory number on the interior of the cover. Provenance: Alderfer Auction, 2006. Price: USD $1500; CAD $1960 ...

Han dynasty potters were perhaps the most original and creative in the whole history of Chinese ceramics, and their work is still neglected and undervalued - a marvellous opportunity for the collector. This jar, which was made in the late Western-early Eastern Han period (1st century BCE-1st century CE) in the Jiangsu or Zhejiang area, has a full rounded body and a low cut neck which gives prominence to the mask handles. It is very “potterly” and surprisingly modern in appearance. The ash ...

This is a very nice example of a small Tang Dynasty (618-907CE) sancai pot for the scholar’s table at an affordable price. The glaze is finely crackled and has a slight iridescence. Diameter: 5cm. Condition: Intact and good with no repairs; normal wear for its age.

A small hu-form jar with green and amber lead glaze. It dates to the Han dynasty, probably the Western Han (206BCE-9CE). These small jars are actually much less common than the larger ones, and it is rare to find them with two colours. Height: 12.4 cm; diameter: 9.4 cm. Condition: good and intact; normal wear and with the usual small chips to the glaze. Ex Anthony J. Allen. Price: USD $550; CAD $715 (13% HST will be applied on all sales in Canada)

Produced in the Kangxi period (1661-1722), this fine plate was intended for the export market and painted in the fashionable Japanese style. Jingdezhen's monopoly on porcelain production was broken in 1616 when Japanese potters at Arita figured out how to produce their own porcelain wares. These were exported to the outside world from the port at Imari, and their dramatic combination of underglaze blue with overglaze red and gold proved an enormous success. The demand for “Imari” wares was s...

This Cultural Revolution porcelain plate from Jingdezhen is decorated with an original image by the artist Liu Haihe depicting a family as the centre of revolutionary commitment. It is very skillfully and carefully painted. This plate was created during the cultural revolution and it has a mark of “Jingdezhen Art Porcelain Factory Committee” at the base. Liu Haihe (1927-) was born in Jingdezhen. He first studied art (porcelain and painting) when he was 13. Before the establishment of the...

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)

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 polychrome Liao Sancai saucer dish incised with good luck cloud patterns. The dish is glazed in green, yellow and cream colours. Condition: Very good, no repair, no crack, minor glaze fritting on the side close to the rim.  Diameter: 12.00cm  Ex: I.M. Chait

This attractive barrel-shaped jar has a crackled cream glaze with a second bright green enamelled overglaze. A bright apple green enamel had been used previously but never as an overall monochrome glaze on top of a crackled one until the Kangxi period (1661-1722). This jar has a Kangxi four-character mark but dates, like almost all four-character “Kangxi” pieces, from the late nineteenth century. Height: 11.5 cm; diameter: 13 cm. Condition: A couple of patches where the green enamel h...

This lovely, well potted Qingbai saucer dish with light green glaze has a central moulded decoration of two fish, swimming freely through aquatic plants. The pattern around the fish is known as Lei wen or yun lei wen (Cloud or Rolling Thunder/Cloud Pattern), it symbolized life (rain) and good wishes. Diameter: 14 cm. Condition: Good. There is some unevenness and discolouration to the rim where it would have been covered by a metal band. Price: USD $300; CAD $392 (13% HST will be applied on al...

A small Qingbai brush washer from Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD). Dia: 12.7 cm Condition: Good. No scratch or crack on surface.