A rare Chinese black glazed mallet vase possibly Song dynasty, the ovoid body with a long cylindrical neck rising to a widely flared rim, decorated in a rich mirror-black glaze, stopping short of the incised foot to reveal the pale brown body beneath, paper labels for the Oriental Ceramic Society, Spink & Son and Mostra D'Arte Cinese, 27.2cm.

Provenance: the collection of Andrew Williams Esq., Oxfordshire. Formerly in the collection of Baron George de Menasce, sold by Spink & Son, The George de Menasce Collection, Part II, May 1972, no.246.

Exhibited: the Oriental Ceramic Society, Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Wares, Chun and Brown Wares, 1st-31st May 1952, no.57, and also The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, 1960, no.81. Mostra D'Arte Cinese, Venezia, 1954, no.497.