An exceptional and rare large white-glazed jar and cover, Sui dynasty

拍品描述

Monochromes from an Important American Private Collection (2) Height 13⅛ in., 33.5 cm Among the most beloved of early Chinese ceramics are the so-called Suibai (lit. ‘Sui white’). A crucial stepping stone in the development of imperial white porcelain, these elusive pieces, gently thrown from high-fired white stoneware and enrobed in clear tactile glazes, are among the finest products of their time. Standing at more than a foot in height, of understated yet graceful curved form and preserving its original cover, the present example is unquestionably one of the most important surviving examples of Suibai preserved in the West. Distinguished by the quality of its potting, its subtle ivory color, gentle craquelure and magnificent size, surviving jars of the present ‘beehive’ design are exceedingly rare. Compare one covered jar of this form, said to be a wine-offering jar, excavated from the tomb of the official Ji Wei, who was buried in 610 near Xi’an in Shaanxi province, illustrated in Käte Finsterbusch, Zur Archaologie der Pei-Ch'i (550-577) und Sui-Zeit (581-618), Wiesbaden, 1976, pl. 49, fig. 10, and discussed in an article by Zhi Yan in 'Suidai ciqi de fazhan [The development of Sui ceramics]', Wenwu, no. 2, 1977, p. 57, where it is reproduced in a line drawing, fig. 1, no. 5 (Fig. 1); and another very closely related example sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th April 2026, lot 1111. A white-glazed jar of closely related form to the present piece, but of smaller size, measuring 19.2 cm in height, and lacking a cover, is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (accession no. xin-39093), illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 58; and another slightly smaller example of the form, also without a cover, was formerly in the collection of Dr Ip Yee, later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 131 (Fig. 2).

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