A LARGE HENAN 'RUSSET' SPLASHED BOWL, China, Northern Song dynasty, the deep rounded sides covered with a metallic black glaze and accented with five bold russet splashes and a few blown smaller speckles radiating out from the center, the rim further dressed in a russet glaze, the exterior covered with black and russet glaze stopping neatly before the knife-pared foot revealing a buff colored body - Property from an old South German private collection, assembled between 1979 and 1992, bought January 1992 from Anne Roselt in Cologne - A closely related bowl decorated with five large splashes surrounded by smaller splashes, from the collection of Dr. Franco Vannotti, was sold at Sotheby's London, 5th June 1956, lot 20. See also a splashed bowl included in the exhibition Chinesische Keramik: Meisterwerke aus Privatsammlungen, Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, 1988, cat.no. 41 - Very small chip to stand