Offered at Sotheby’s (20/12% buyer’s premium) Chinese sale on June 12, this was no ordinary mass-produced ceramic but a rare and Imperial guanyao mallow-shaped brushwasher from the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279).
This understated aesthetic was favoured by the emperors of the Song dynasty and much prized by Chinese scholars. Consequently, guan ceramics were imitated by Chinese potters in the succeeding Ming and Qing dynasties and also in the 20th century.
Although around 20 comparable brushwashers are preserved in the Palace Museums of Beijing and Taipei, only a few genuine Song dynasty pieces have found their way to the West and remain in private hands. This example was
formerly in the R.F.A.Riesco Collection (1875-1964) and gifted to the Corporation of Croydon. It is the third time it has appeared at auction and its price increases have been
dramatic. At Sotheby’s in December 1984 it made £52,000 and on its return to Bond Street in December 1995 it fetched £160,000. For its latest appearance it was given an estimate of £350,000-450,000 but a Taiwanese dealer in the room had to go to £680,000 to secure it against a European and an American buyer on phones manned by Sotheby’s Alastair Gibson and Regina Krahl.
Plain Song rises above mass
To the uninitiated or those with a flamboyant taste in antiques, it might seem unbelievable that of the 4000 or so lots offered during London’s Asian art series this rather plain blueish-grey glazed brushwasher, above, could be the most coveted.
