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Lot Essay
It is very rare to find examples of this form together with a cover. The most comparable example, from the estate of the late Count Antoine Seilern, was sold in Christie's London, June 17, 1982, lot 28, and also illustrated by Anthony du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, New Jersey, 1984, p. 39, no. 7.
Another, but slightly smaller and lacking its cover, from the Baur Collection, Geneva, is illustrated by William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, Fribourg, 1984, p. 152, fig. 132; another in Sekai toji zenshu, Kawadeshobo, 1961, vol. 9, fig. 91, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, also without a cover, also illustrated by René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, The Hans Popper Collection of Oriental Art, 1973, p. 93, no. 57; by John Ayers, Far Eastern Art in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Japan, 1980, fig. 51; in the Tokyo National Museum, Chinese Ceramics I, Catalogue, 1988, p. 61, no. 236; in Beauty and the Selfless Mind, Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, 1981, Catalogue, p. 160, fig. 619; in Sekai toji zhenshu, Shogakukan, Japan, 1976, vol. 11, fig. 50; and by Regina Krahl, The Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, Catalogue, vol. 1, p. 141, col. pl. 236.
The form is typically glazed green with a yellow interior, although a splashed white-glazed example is illustrated by Seiichi Mizuno, Tousansai (Tang Sancai), Heibonsha, Japan, 1977, vol. 35, fig. 83.
The form is derived from Han prototypes in ceramic and bronze, and it has also been suggested that the ribbed effect is an imitation of turned wood. For a comparable Han bronze example, see René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, op. cit., p. 26, no. 10.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C298c55 is consistent with the dating of this lot.