13th Dec, 2023 13:00

Fine Asian Art Holiday Sale

 
  Lot 147
 

147

A PAIR OF QINGBAI FUNERARY JARS AND COVERS WITH THE 'GREEN DRAGON' OF THE EAST AND THE 'WHITE TIGER' OF THE WEST, SONG DYNASTY

Sold for €2,080

including Buyer's Premium


Lot details

China, 960-1279. Each of baluster form, rising from a slightly splayed foot to a ribbed neck surmounted by a tall straight rim. One jar decorated to the shoulders in high relief with a dragon, a reclining figure, and the flaming pearl, the other similarly decorated with a sprawling tiger along the neck of the jar with a dog seated next to a reclining figure. Cloud scrolls are applied to the necks of both jars and a bird surmounts each lid. A disk is applied to the neck of each jar inscribed with the characters for the sun and the moon. Both covered overall with a translucent glaze of aquamarine tone slashed with iron-brown. (2)

Provenance: From an English private collection.
Condition: Good condition with wear commensurate to age and manufacturing irregularities including glaze recesses and some cracking, pitting. Chips, cracks, and losses. Both slightly titled. (blue light lights up lots of the cracks on the body)

Weight: 2,106 g and 2,081 g
Dimensions: Height 35.6 cm and 37.5 cm

These funerary urns are decorated with two ‘animals of the four directions’, called 'siling’ in Chinese. The White Tiger of the West is pursuing a dog and the Green Dragon of the East is chasing a flaming pearl. The birds on the covers may allude to the Vermillion Bird of the South. In China, artists decorated coffins and tombs with these creatures from the Han dynasty onwards. These jars stored provisions for the afterlife such as grain and are part of local southern burial practice.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Qingbai pair of burial jars decorated with iron-brown details, dated to the 12th-13th century, on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession number 91.11.1a,b.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 29 March 2022, lot 649
Price: USD 7,560 or approx. EUR 7,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of Qingbai funerary jars and covers, Song / Yuan dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, similar decoration, and size (36.3 cm).

 

China, 960-1279. Each of baluster form, rising from a slightly splayed foot to a ribbed neck surmounted by a tall straight rim. One jar decorated to the shoulders in high relief with a dragon, a reclining figure, and the flaming pearl, the other similarly decorated with a sprawling tiger along the neck of the jar with a dog seated next to a reclining figure. Cloud scrolls are applied to the necks of both jars and a bird surmounts each lid. A disk is applied to the neck of each jar inscribed with the characters for the sun and the moon. Both covered overall with a translucent glaze of aquamarine tone slashed with iron-brown. (2)

Provenance: From an English private collection.
Condition: Good condition with wear commensurate to age and manufacturing irregularities including glaze recesses and some cracking, pitting. Chips, cracks, and losses. Both slightly titled. (blue light lights up lots of the cracks on the body)

Weight: 2,106 g and 2,081 g
Dimensions: Height 35.6 cm and 37.5 cm

These funerary urns are decorated with two ‘animals of the four directions’, called 'siling’ in Chinese. The White Tiger of the West is pursuing a dog and the Green Dragon of the East is chasing a flaming pearl. The birds on the covers may allude to the Vermillion Bird of the South. In China, artists decorated coffins and tombs with these creatures from the Han dynasty onwards. These jars stored provisions for the afterlife such as grain and are part of local southern burial practice.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Qingbai pair of burial jars decorated with iron-brown details, dated to the 12th-13th century, on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession number 91.11.1a,b.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 29 March 2022, lot 649
Price: USD 7,560 or approx. EUR 7,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of Qingbai funerary jars and covers, Song / Yuan dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, similar decoration, and size (36.3 cm).

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