A Jiangsu Ding Ware Figure of Shou Lao, God of Longevity; late Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)

A Jiangsu Ding Ware Figure of Shou Lao, God of Longevity; Late Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)

Carrying a Ju-i Sceptre in his right hand, covered with a wash of cream slip, with flattened ovoid body, short neck and oval spread base. An incredible opportunity to own a true museum quality work of art with impeccable provenance.

Size: Height 27cm, Length 9cm, Width 5cm

Object history: HM Queen Marie of Yugoslavia., the late George Eumorfopoulos Collection ('Eumo' Collection Cat 236), Sotheby's Sale, Tuesday 28th May 1940, Lot 118, Leonard Gow Collection.

Condition Report: Good condition for its age, 800 year patina with some small hairline cracks/firing flaws in the glaze around the sceptre, face and feet (please see photos). Two small glaze chips on right arm with small hairline.

Object literature: The George Eumorfopoulos Collection is one of the most important collections of Chinese and East Asian art in the world. George Eumorfopoulos was a Greek-born art collector and dealer who lived in London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was passionate about Chinese art and spent decades amassing a collection of more than 3,000 objects, including ceramics, jades, bronzes, and other works of art.

Eumorfopoulos was born in 1863 in Constantinople (now Istanbul) to a wealthy Greek family. He was educated in England and France, and became interested in Chinese art while working as a clerk in the Far East department of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He went on to become a dealer in Chinese art, and traveled extensively throughout Asia, acquiring objects for his collection.

The Eumorfopoulos Collection includes examples of Chinese art from the Neolithic period to the Qing dynasty (1644-1911 CE). One of the highlights of the collection is the group of more than 800 pieces of Chinese porcelain, which includes examples of nearly every major type of Chinese porcelain produced over the past 1,000 years. The collection also includes important examples of Chinese bronze vessels, jade carvings, and paintings.

In addition to his role as a collector, Eumorfopoulos was also a scholar and an advocate for Chinese art. He wrote several books and articles on Chinese art and culture, and was a frequent lecturer on the subject. He also donated objects from his collection to museums and institutions around the world, including the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Musée Guimet in Paris.

After Eumorfopoulos' death in 1939, his collection was dispersed through a series of sales and donations. Many of the objects from the collection are now in the collections of major museums around the world, including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Palace Museum in Taipei.