China, 202 BC to 220 AD. The globular body rising from a tall splayed foot to a waisted neck and everted rim surmounted by a domed cover. The shoulder and body each carved with recessed line borders, covered overall in a finely crackled amber-brown glaze pooling in the recesses, the interior of the cover with an olive tint. (2)

Provenance: From the collection of Joseph Rondina (1927-2022). The base with an old label, 'Han Dynasty. Amber glaze. Covered jar. 25-220 AD.' Joseph Rondina was born into a first-generation Florentine-American family in Auburn, upstate New York. Returning to the U.S. after being stationed in Berlin at the end of the Second World War, he studied at the Whitman School of Design before opening Joseph Rondina Antiques on Madison Avenue in Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1957. In the beginning, his interests focused primarily on European 18th-century decorative arts and furniture, over time developing to include Chinese, Korean, Indian, Thai, Cambodian, Persian and Japanese art, bringing a more esoteric and exotic style to the market. His clientele included stars of the stage and screen, royalty, notables, dignitaries, and denizens of the social register from the United States and abroad.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. The foot and rims with small chips and minor old touchups as expected from Han dynasty excavations. Wear, firing flaws, intentional glaze crackling, glaze abrasions, kiln grit, small losses, encrustations.

Weight: 1.2 kg
Dimensions: Height 25.8 cm

Literature comparison:
Compare a related amber-glazed hu, decorated with taotie masks suspending mock ring handles and lacking the cover, 40.6 cm high, dated to the Eastern Han dynasty, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1994.605.123. Compare a related amber-glazed hu, decorated with taotie masks and lacking the cover, 34.5 cm high, dated 2nd century BC to 1st century AD, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, accession number EA1956.909.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's London, 18 May 2018, lot 284A
Estimate: GBP 4,000 or approx. EUR 5,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large amber-glazed pottery vase, hu, Han dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form and amber glaze. Note the lacking cover and the larger size (47.5 cm).