A Hutian qingbai six-lobed cup and cupstand
北宋 青白六出盃及托
The cup is delicately potted with a shallow rounded bowl rising to a flared rim divided by notches into six lobes, resting on a splayed foot. The stand is dish-shaped with a lipped flat rim lobed to match the cup, encircling the central holder of circular stepped form, all raised on a splayed foot composed of six fused petal-like lobes each pierced with a ruyi-shaped aperture. Both cup and cupstand are covered in a translucent pale blue glaze pooling to a deeper tone in the recesses of the decoration. The undersides of both have unglazed areas with characteristic burnt traces of the iron kiln support.
Provenance:
A Far Eastern Private Collection
Sotheby’s London, 9th November 2018, lot 230.
Exhibited:
Asian Arts Institute of Australia, Objects of Desire, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics, Song to Yuan Dynasties, 10th to 14th Centuries, exhibition catalogue (Sydney, 2013), cat. no. 16.
A pair of very similar cups and stands were included in the exhibition Qingbai Wares of the Song Dynasty, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, illustrated catalogue no. 17. For another qingbai cup and cup-stand, but of slightly differing form, see The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, p.29, no. 9, where it is noted that the copying of silver originals, as here, led potters to develop this exceptionally delicate ware.
Dimensions: Diameter of stand: 14 cm, 5 ½ inches Diameter of cup: 10.9 cm, 4 ¼ inches
Date: Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)
Stock No. 2270
Price: On Request