Gongxian/Gongyi kilns, China

Tang Dynasty (618-907), c. 9th century

Precisely potted in generous baluster form with a double strap-handle and conical spout, the pure white body covered in a clear yellowish crackled glaze. 16.2cm high, 12.5cm wide.

Condition: hairline crack to the rim. Very small chip to the lower edge of the spout

Jian kilns, China

Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Of classic waisted conical form in thickly potted stoneware with a finely cut foot, covered in a persimmon hare’s fur glaze pooling black in the well on a slight angle, the mouth with an old metal collar. Together with an old inscribed Japanese wooden box. 6cm high, 12.8cm diameter.

Condition: small chip with old repair to the rim, partially concealed by the metal collar. One of the exterior drips above the foot broken off either in the firing or post-production.

Japan

Showa period (1926-1989), c. 1980

Of powerful angular modernist cylindrical form, decorated with Wada’s geometric saidosanmonki pattern (cedar design) in layered and incised coloured slips rising from a matt iron brown glaze around the base. Incised signature to the base. 36.4cm high, 15cm diameter. With the original signed wooden box (tomobako).

Osaka area, Japan

Kofun Period (250-538), early 6th century

Powerfully potted in globular form in grey-bodied stoneware with a high flaring neck and wide mouth, kushigaki-hajomon (wavy combed-line) decoration above the waist, the shoulder speckled with naturally fallen ash glaze. 14.3cm high, 11cm diameter.

Cat. 792

Bizen kilns, Japan

Edo Period (1603-1868), c. 17th century

This miniature jar (made for holding dry sweets for tea ceremony) is in squat baluster form and exhibits a beautiful shiny persimmon-orange blush to the surface interspersed with matt dark brown patches and grass-like firing marks, with a rich beauty that old Bizen is famous for. Together with an early Japanese wooden box with deerskin fasteners. 5.2cm high, 4.7cm diameter. Cat. 791

Vietnam

Tran Dynasty (1225-1400), 14th century

Thickly potted high-fired stoneware with an incised double line below the mouth, covered in a vibrant apple-green coloured glaze. 12cm high, 13cm diameter. Together with a Japanese wooden box.

Cat. 146

Condition: magnificent, with no glaze loss, only a small area of glaze crazing at the base above the foot, and an excellent ring when lightly tapped. Being successfully high-fired and with a perfectly intact glaze with rich and beautiful green colour, this ceramic is one of the best examples of its type that I have seen and handled, as is often the case with Southeast Asian ceramics from old Japanese collections.

Reference: for examples of the same type, please see:

John Stevenson and John Guy, Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition, cat. no. 164.

Dick Richards and T.S. Loh, Vietnamese Ceramics from the Yi-Lu Collection, cat. no. 112