QINGBAI TAOTIE-MASK HANDLED RIBBED VASE
SONG DYNASTY
宋 青白瓷鋪首銜環弦紋瓶 帶木座of archaistic bronze hu form, the ribbed body flanked with a pair of taotie-mask handles suspending fixed rings, covered overall with a pale blue glaze of green tone, with a wooden stand
28.8cm high 
Private English collection, Brighton; purchased from Wing Kei Curios & Porcelain (永基古玩瓷器), Hong Kong on 1 March 1995, with an original receipt.
A closely comparable Qingbai vase in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art was on loan and exhibited at the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong for the ‘The Grand Gathering of the Century: Zodiac Heads from the Yuanmingyuan and Important Treasures’ exhibition during 4th July and 30th November, 2023. A further Qingbai vase similar in form is in the National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, museum number: 77-00209.