The Song dynasty (960–1279) was culturally the most brilliant era in later imperial Chinese history. A time of great social and economic change, the period in large measure shaped the intellectual and political climate of China down to the twentieth century. The first half of this era, when the capital was located at Bianliang (modern Kaifeng), is known as the Northern Song period.
The early Northern Song dynasty witnessed the flowering of one of the supreme artistic expressions of Chinese civilization: monumental landscape painting. Retreating to the mountains to escape the turmoil and destruction that occurred at the end of the Tang dynasty (618–907), tenth-century recluse-painters discovered in nature the moral order that they had found lacking in the human world. In their visionary landscapes, the great mountain, towering above the lesser mountains, trees, and men, was like “a ruler among his subjects, a master among servants.” Later, Song court painters transformed these idealized images of nature into emblems of a perfectly ordered state. Reference: The Metropolitan Museum
Fragment of tapestry weave silk (kesi). Blue ground with butterfly, poppies and rocks in white, green and dark blue silk. China, Song dynasty (960-1279)
Reference: © Victoria and Albert Museum
A rare bronze ‘lotus pond’ barbed-rim basin Cast Zhongji Yangshi Zhizao six-character mark, 12th/13th century The deep basin with a wide flat foliate rim, moulded on the interior with ducks, fish and herons in a lotus pond, another heron and butterfly in flight above, the rim with a band of peony flower heads, all raised on three curved feet. 40.4cm (15 7/8in) diam.
Sold for £ 15,000 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2017
A RARE PAINTED JIZHOU OVOID VASE SOUTHERN SONG/YUAN DYNASTY, 13TH-14TH CENTURY Loosely painted in brown with a bird perched on a flowering branch on one side, the reverse with a large banana tree emerging from behind a jagged rock, with butterflies between, with incised details, all under a clear glaze 7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) high
Sold for USD 34,600 at Christie’s in 2008
Song dynasty Cui bai’s butterfly flowers painting
Sold for $600 at Margarita Auction Co in 2020
One from a Set of Dishes with Bamboo, Plum Blossoms, Butterflies, and Birds late 13th–14th century China Vessels such as these were used mainly for formal entertaining. It was likely to have been made in one of the cities along the lower reaches of the Yangzi River. The vessel has the same shape as contemporaneous works in porcelain and lacquer.
Silver with chased and punched decoration and gilding
Southern Song (1127–1279)–Yuan (1271–1368) dynasty
Reference: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A CIZHOU BLACK-PAINTED ‘BIRD AND FLOWER’ TULU VASE SONG DYNASTY the globular body rising from a countersunk base to a short waisted neck and flared mouth, the exterior painted with birds and butterflies amongst leafy sprays, applied with Japanese kintsugi restoration at the rim 24.5 cm, 9 5/8 in.
Sold for 625,000 HKD at Sotheby’s in 2019
