to the ivory-white layer beneath to depict three large peony blooms. The sturdy, bulbous body rising to a lipped rim. Provenance: From the collection Dr. Francesco Rausi, the Italian Ambassador to South Korea. Acquired 1989 during the ambassador’s visit to Beijing. Dr. Rausi was an avid collector of European and Korean ceramics, with a few early Chinese pieces completing his collection. A provenance letter is accompanying this lot, as well as the original TL Test from ARCADIA, TECNOLOGIE PER I BENI CULTURALI, Milan, Italy, dated 3/4/2008, which confirms the dating of this lot. Condition: The glaze shows some calcification from burial, especially the ivory-white layer is affected. Also, the band circling the foot bears massive earthen encrustations which cannot be removed. Accordingly, the neatly carved foot shows clear traces of erosion. Besides these natural signs of age, there are no noteworthy damages. Weight: 1788,7 grams.Dimensions: Height 16.8 cm.This jar is impressive despite its small size due to its bold and vigorous floral scroll which has been endowed with an added sense of three-dimensionality through its carving and neatly incised lines. Vases decorated with in sgraffiato technique with large peony blooms, in which the design is carved through the dark slip covering a white slip beneath, were produced primarily at Cizhou kilns in the Guantai area, Cixian, Henan province, during the Northern Song dynasty, where fragments of similarly decorated vessels have been recovered, illustrated in The Cizhou Kiln Site at Guantai, Beijing, 1997, plate 21, no. 2. Jars decorated with similar peony motifs are more commonly known of larger size, such as one included in the exhibition Song Ceramics, Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1999, cat. no. 93, and a meiping vase, from the collection of Margaret C. Osgood, now in the Worcester Art Museum, included in the exhibition ‘Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China’.金代磁州窯小型剔花罐中國,金代(1115-1234)。灰白地褐色釉剔花牡丹紋。胎體堅固,削肩鼓腹。來源:意大利駐韓國大使 Francesco Rausi博士收藏。1989年訪問北京時購買。Rausi博士是歐洲及韓國陶瓷收藏家,也收藏了幾件中國早期陶瓷器具。 意大利米蘭ARCADIA, TECNOLOGIE PER I BENI CULTURALI 研究所2008年3月4日出具的熱釋光檢測結果原件證實了斷代。品相: 釉面显示因爲埋藏而產生的钙化,特别是象牙白色釉层受到影响。此外,圈足部位有土质结壳,无法将其除去,明显的侵蚀痕迹。 除了这些由年代產生的自然迹象,没有明顯损害。 重量:1788,7 克尺寸: 高16.8 厘米