The rounded sides sloping from the slightly flared foot to the everted mouth rim covered in an unctuous brown glaze, the balance of the vase an undecorated light beige glaze except for a drop of brown glaze permitted to drip off of the mouth rim onto the neck. Jin/Song Dynasty. 16".
Provenance: ex Bernat Collection. ex Sotheby's New York.
This vase, with its sloping shoulders and everted lip resembles a Cizhou-type Northern Song vase. Compare Sotheby's London, November 14, 2000, lot 133. It also shares characteristics with other Cizhou meipings of the Song period with respect to the slope of the shoulders and the splayed foot. Compare Sotheby's London, June 20, 2001, lot 55. However, it differs in that the dark brown glaze used during the Jin Dynasty is not present in those examples as it is in our offering, even though its application is simply to the mouth rim and neck. Compare a Jin Dynasty vase, Sotheby's London, November 14, 2000, lot 134 with a different mouth but the same brown glaze and another Jin Dynasty vase, Sotheby's London, November 14, 2000, lot 135 with its sharply everted rim covered in a dark brown glaze.
The Bernat Collection, one of the most renowned, consisted of some of the finest examples of Chinese ceramics, including the legendary Qianlong mark and period Bernat Bowl with four landscape medallions on a puce ground. The impeccable taste of the Bernats is reflected in this offering, where the size, shape, color and simplicity of the meiping is inspiring.
