A SMALL CIZHOU-TYPE 'OIL-SPOT' BOWL, JIN DYNA... Lot n° 217

A SMALL CIZHOU-TYPE 'OIL-SPOT' BOWL, JIN DYNASTY China, 1115-1234. The deep, rounded sides rising from a short, thick foot to an indented rim. Covered with a lustrous, blackish-brown glaze densely patterned on the interior with silvery 'oil spots', which on the exterior falls short of the small foot exposing the fine brownish-buff ware. Provenance: A noted private collector in London, United Kingdom. Condition: Very good condition with minor old wear, traces of use and shallow surface scratches, firing flaws, including several glaze recesses, the foot with few minor nicks. Weight: 156.6 g Dimensions: Diameter 10.2 cm This bowl is a Jin Dynasty imitation of a Shanxi ceramic ware, likely made in Shandong province, during the 12th-13th centuries, based on the circular foot ring as well as the underglaze mid-brown, iron-bearing slip. The slip used on wares made in Shanxi typically shows distinct iron-bearing clusters, which are not found on the present bowl. Literature comparison: Two similar Cizhou-type bowls, also made in Shandong province, are illustrated by Robert D. Mowry in Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 153-55, nos. 46-47. Auction result comparison: Compare a near-identical oil spot bowl, also dated to the Jin dynasty, at Christie’s New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 19 September 2014, lot 787, sold for USD 16,250. Compare a related oil spot bowl, dated Northern Song to Jin dynasty, at Christie’s Hong Kong in Chinese Ceramics from the Yangdetang Collection on 30 November 2016, lot 3149, sold for HKD 300,000.