NORTHERN SONG – JIN DYNASTY (960-1234)

The bowl is potted with flaring sides, the interior carved with two apsaras surrounded by stylised scrolling clouds, covered overall with an olive-green glaze. The motif of apsaras is typically found on Tang dynasty gold and silver vessels as well as jade carvings. Its appearance on ceramics especially on Yaozhou wares are very rare, reasonably so due to the difficulty of carving such complicated patterns on the ceramic body. Compare to a similarly decorated Yaozhou bowl from the Gordon Collection, exhibited by J. J. Lally in The Gordon Collection: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 12 March – 4 April 2009, cat. no. 16.