Fine & Rare Chinese Western Zhou Dynasty Pottery Jar

This very rare jar was made during the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 771 BC). It is made from a hard high-fired pale pottery. It has a wide body with a slightly rounded base, quite a large neck that splays outwards and two wide loop handles joined at the shoulder and just below the rim edge...

Fine & Rare Chinese Warring States Pottery Bird with Oxford TL Test

This very rare pottery model of a bird, either a duck or a goose, was made during the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC). It is "heavily-potted" and made from quite a high-fired grey pottery. The duck stands with its neck and wings stretched, as if in the act of preparing to fly. Note the detail, especially to the wings, with the tiger heads. The style and decoration suggest this model was based on a bronze example...

Fine Rare Chinese Warring States Painted Pottery Jug

This very rare pottery vessel was made during the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC). It is quite highly-fired and "heavily-potted" with a sturdy handle and the mouth fashioned to form a pouring lip. It was originally painted with diagonal lines in white pigment, although only faint traces of this now remains. Note the round protrusion to the inner surface where the handle is joined to the body...

Fine & Rare Chinese Southern Song Dynasty Qingbai Glazed Porcelain Dish (with carved & moulded decoration)

This attractive porcelain dish, or shallow bowl, was made during the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127 - 1279). It is coated in a finely-crackled pale greenish translucent qingbai glaze, save for the rim and flat base that remain intentionally unglazed...

Fine Rare Chinese Song / Yuan Dynasty Inscribed Buddhist Sanskrit Pottery Jar

This very rare and fascinating pottery jar was made around the 13th - 14th century during the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279) or possibly the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1279 - 1368) and has been excavated from a Buddhist site in Yunnan province, at the time a particularly isolated part of China...

Fine & Rare Chinese Neolithic Siwa Culture Burnished Black Pottery Jar (c. 1350 BC)

This rare pottery vessel was made over 3,000 years ago by peoples of the Siwa Culture (c.1350 BC) from present day Gansu or Qinghai province. It is attractively-shaped with high handles, a saddle-shaped mouth and a wide body that tapers down to a small circular flat base...

Fine & Rare Chinese Neolithic Pottery Jar

This fine pottery jar was made some 4,000 years ago. Although it was excavated from Gansu province, we are not certain from which Neolithic culture it derives although it is probably a product of the Qijia Culture (c. 2050 - 1700 BC).� It is well-made and quite highly-fired, having a distinct ring when tapped. The lower body has been decorated with an impressed, almost spiral pattern...

Fine & Rare Chinese Ming Dynasty Blue & White Kraak Porcelain Dish

This very rare and unusual fine quality moulded "kraak" porcelain dish was made toward the end of the Wanli reign (1573 - 1620) of the Ming Dynasty at the famous Jingdezhen kilns. It has a scalloped cavetto and the underglaze pattern is a deep blue. The central design features a butterfly and a grasshopper on a rock within an attractive landscape...

Fine & Rare Chinese Jin Dynasty Painted Pottery Tile - Musician

This impressive pottery tile was made during the Jin Dynasty (AD 1115 - 1234). It is made from a relatively high-fired grey pottery that has been cold-painted in various coloured pigments, traces of which still remain.

Theatre, the arts, music, performances were a very popular part of life during this period in Shanxi province, from where this tile has been excavated...

Fine & Rare Chinese Jin Dynasty Painted Pottery Tile - Entertainer

This impressive pottery tile was made during the Jin Dynasty (AD 1115 - 1234). It is made from a relatively high-fired grey pottery that has been cold-painted in various coloured pigments, traces of which still remain.

Theatre, the arts, music, performances were a very popular part of life during this period in Shanxi province, from where this tile has been excavated...

A rare, very well patinated, hardwood carving, with silver wire inlay, depicting the twin Daoist Immortals of Unity and Harmony - the Hehe Erxian. One is holding a lotus leaf and bud; the other holds a bat. This item was made, circa 1780-1820, during the reign of either the Qianlong or Jiaqing emperor...

A small finely carved amber and translucent white coloured soapstone figure group depicting the Daoist Immortal Liu Hai 劉海 and, unusually, a Pixiu.

This item was probably made for the Scholar's table as a tactile handling object in the 17th or early 18th Century, possibly during the reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662 - 1722).

Condition: the tip of the plantain leaf base is broken off but the figure group is fully intact...

A QING Dynasty Bronze Censer finely engarved with various figures and flowers/foliage/people and animals, supported by 3 stylized Elephants as Support/Feet. Four Character Mark "QIAN LONG NIAN ZIH" on Base. Size: H. 17.5 cm. x W. 19 cm. (H. 7" x W. 7.5")

Porcelain cup with curved sides, with a hand painted blue decor on a white background representing a landscape showing on the left side a rocky lakeshore with two old men sitting under a gnarled tree, and the right side a fisherman rowing on a boat. Above the scenery, a four line inscription. Two character mark beneath. The rim is protected by a bronze circle, but this is not meant to hide any blemish. China, Qing Dynasty. Height: 3,3 cm. Diameter: 11,4 cm. Very good condition.

A Fine Pair of Tall Chinese Western Han Dynasty Painted Pottery Granaries

This impressive fine pair of painted pottery jars, representing granaries, was made over two thousand years ago during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 8). They are made from a fairly high-fired grey pottery. They have cylindrical bodies, each decorated with three surrounding bands of raised ridges, the tops of each jar representing tiled roofs...

Fine Pair of Tall Chinese Song / Yuan Dynasty Qingbai Porcelain Jars   

This fine pair of tall and impressive porcelain jars was made in the 13th - 14th century, toward the end of the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279) or the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1279 - 1368). Interestingly they have been made in several sections that have been luted together. They are coated in a finely-crackled greenish-blue qingbai glaze of very good colour.

This is a true matching pair. Various decorations have been moulde...

Fine Pair of Tall Chinese Han Dynasty Burnished Pottery Vases

This fine, impressive and very rare pair of pottery vases was made during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 8) or possibly a little earlier. They are of a particularly pleasing and elegant form, the wide bodies rising up from the flat bases, then constricting into long slender necks and finally opening up into fairly wide mouths. They are quite "heavily-potted" and made from a dense fine-grained dark grey pottery, the surface o...

Fine Pair of Tall Chinese Song Dynasty Qingbai Porcelain Dragon Jars   

This fine pair of tall and impressive porcelain jars was made in the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279), more specifically around the 11th - 12th century. This type of tall qingbai-glazed porcelain jar was made throughout the 11th to 14th centuries, although the later versions tend to be more "coarse", more thinly-potted and made from multiple moulded sections luted together. These examples are quite "heavily-potted" and ma...