NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (960-1127)

The very difficult two-slip sgraffito decoration technique used to produce the beautiful design on the present jar was developed at the Cizhou kilns in the Northern Song dynasty. It involved the application of a white slip to the unfired stoneware vessel, followed by a black slip. The outline of the decoration was then incised through the top black layer and the background area of the design was cut away to reveal the white slip beneath, a final thin colourless glaze was applied all over before the vessel firing.

This exacting and deliberate process demanded a highly skilled application, as the layers of slip were relatively soft, requiring artisans to precisely gauge the depth of incision to remove the dark upper layer without compromising the underlying white slip. This technique was characteristic of the finest wares produced at the renowned Guantai kilns, which were known not only for functional vessels but also for decorative pieces executed in two‑slip sgraffito, frequently adorned with peony motifs.

The present lot is extremely rare, and possibly unique, for its combination of sgraffito technique and the design of scattered peony sprays on a jar form. A related scattered peony motif is found on a Cizhou meiping in the collection of the Eisei Bunko Museum, Tokyo (fig. 1). For larger-scale sgraffito peony decoration on Cizhou meipings, one is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by S. G. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 93, pl. 88 (fig. 2). Several comparable examples have appeared at auctions; one was sold at Christie’s New York, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics- The Linyushanren Collection, Part III, 22 March 2018, lot 516; another one sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, The Legacy of Hirano Kotoken, 8 April 2023, lot 3511; and a most recent example was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, 9 September 2025, lot 5008.