SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)

The hu shape of the present vase takes inspiration from earlier ritual bronze prototypes, exemplifying the Song emperors' reverence for antiquity. The unctuous glaze is characteristic of the superior quality of Guan wares produced at the time. See a related Song vase in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, cat. no. 12. Also compare this vase to a similar but slightly taller (17.6 cm.) Guan vase, dated to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and bearing a later added poem by the emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), sold at Sotheby's London, 13 June 1989, lot 180. Another hu vase of very similar form, size and decoration dated to the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) was previously exhibited at the Oriental Ceramic Society in London (Ju and Kuan Wares, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1952, no. 66) and the Musée Cernuschi in Paris (L’Art de la Chine des Song, Ville de Paris, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, 1956, cat. no. 90), then subsequently sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2013, lot 3044.