The early Chinese art section of Sotheby's London "Chinese Art" sale performed weakly. Of the 35 lots offered, 17 sold and 18 were bought in, a sell-through rate of 48.6%; the total including commission was £550,656. Turnover was highly concentrated: lot 8, a Cizhou ware meiping with carved black peony design, accounted for 51.1% alone, and the top three lots together made up 71%, while the remaining fourteen lots averaged only about £11,400 each.
Northern Song Dynasty, Cizhou kiln meiping with white ground and carved black peony design
By premium tier, small pieces clearly outperformed: lot 13, a Qingbai glaze bowl, £15,360 (about 2.8 times over estimate); lot 3, a Jiaotanxia Guan ware single-handled cup, £33,280, +122% over the mid-estimate; lot 22, a Five Dynasties white-glazed vase, +105%. But larger pieces above £20,000 mostly sold at or below low estimates: lot 8 hammered at £281,600, below the mid-estimate; lot 37, a sancai horse, £76,800, below the low estimate; lot 4, a sancai lion pillow, £4,480, fell straight through the reserve. Overall premium across the sale was about +2.9%, as aggressive bidding on small pieces and price pressure on large pieces offset each other.
Southern Song Dynasty, Jiaotanxia Guan kiln single-handled cup
Size: 10 cm
Provenance
The Zhide Lou Collection of Hu Huichun (1911–1995)
Size: 27 cm
Provenance
Dai Runzhai, New York, 1963
The Arthur M. Sackler Collection (1913-1987)
Christie's New York, 14 September 2009, lot 78
Northern Song Dynasty, Qingbai-glazed Bowl
Five Dynasties, White-glazed Vase
Tang Dynasty, Brown-glazed Sancai Horse
The unsold lots are the most telling indicator: all four lots estimated above £50,000 went unsold, including lot 24, a Ding ware covered vase (estimate 300,000–500,000), and lot 32, a Longquan drum-form jar (estimate 50,000–100,000). The mid-estimate total of the unsold lots was approximately £870,000, far exceeding the actual sales total; six of the nine Longquan celadon pieces went unsold, making it the weakest category.
Northern Song / Jin Dynasty, Ding ware white-glazed covered vase
Southern Song / Yuan Dynasty, Longquan celadon 'peony scroll' drum-form jar with studs
A comparison of historical prices yields three signals. Lot 8 sold at Sotheby's New York in 2011 for US$506,500; this time it fetched £281,600, a nominal decline of 11%, yet it remained the only lot in the sale with competing bids from two buyers. Lot 9, a Yuan Cizhou meiping with crane and phoenix design, sold for £55,250 in 2010 but fetched only £10,240 this time, a drop of 81%; even with the Yamanaka and Mottahedeh provenance it commanded no premium. Lot 24 actually sold for US$207,900 (about £165k) at the Lan Lijie sale in 2023; this time the estimate was set directly at £300–500k, detached from its transaction anchor, and it failed to sell.
Yuan Dynasty, Cizhou ware meiping with painted crane and phoenix design
Overall, the early ceramics section of this sale showed a polarized market: small pieces under £5,000 attracted active bidding and strong premiums; museum-quality pieces at the £200,000 level still found collectors; while buying was weaker in the middle £20,000–£300,000 range.
Tang dynasty marbled clay vase
Dimensions: height 18 cm
Provenance
Sotheby's New York, 3 December 1986, lot 124
Christie's Paris, 15 December 2010, lot 270 (Sale price: EUR 25,000)
Tang Dynasty, A Sancai-glazed Phoenix-head Ewer
Dimensions: 34.8 cm
Provenance
Acquired in the UK before 1996
Gerald M. Greenwald Collection
Christie's New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1312
Literature
Gerald M. Greenwald, "The Greenwald Collection: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics", 1996, no. 14
Northern Song Dynasty, A Black-glazed Foliate-rimmed Zhadou
南宋 龍泉窰青釉瓶
A Yaozhou celadon carved 'lotus' bowl, Northern Song dynasty
Northern Song Dynasty, Ding ware white-glazed bowl
Northern Song Dynasty, A Yaozhou Kiln Celadon-Glazed Bowl with Carved Lotus Design
Southern Song Dynasty, A Longquan Kiln Celadon-Glazed Bowl with Lotus Petal Design
Northern Song / Jin Dynasty, Jun ware sky-blue glazed vase
Northern Song Dynasty, Xing ware white-glazed ewer
Southern Song Dynasty, Qingbai-glazed bowl with moulded phoenix design
Northern Song / Jin Dynasty, A Cizhou Green-Glazed Dish with Incised Lotus Design in Black
Five Dynasties, A Yue Ware Celadon-Glazed Melon-Ridged Ewer
Northern Song Dynasty, Yaozhou celadon-glazed conical bowl with flared rim and impressed scrolling chrysanthemum design
Southern Dynasties, Yuezhou kiln celadon chicken-head ewer
Jin / Yuan dynasty, Huozhou kiln white-glazed washer with single handle and impressed fish design
Southern Song dynasty, Qingbai conical bowl with carved peony design
Late Tang / Five Dynasties, A Pair of White-Glazed Lobed Dishes
Northern Song Dynasty, Jun Kiln Green-Glazed Bowl
Southern Song Dynasty, Jizhou ware tortoiseshell-glazed bowl
Northern Song Dynasty, Cizhou ware white-glazed ewer with lotus design
Early Ming Dynasty Longquan Celadon Dish with Incised Cloud and Dragon Design
Yuan Dynasty Longquan Kiln Celadon Dish with Incised Cloud and Crane Design
A Longquan celadon carved 'dragon' jar and cover, Southern Song dynasty
