Page 28 - CHRISTIE'S Marchant Nine Decades of Chinese Art 09/14/17

MARCHANT: NINE DECADES IN CHINESE ART

702 A CARVED LONGQUAN CELADON
‘PHOENIX-TAIL’ VASE

LATE YUAN-EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY

The body is carved with a band of leafy peonies above a lower
band of upright petals, and the faring neck is carved with
concentric ribs beneath the everted rim. The vase is covered
inside and out with a glaze of sea-green color, and the inside
of the foot and deeply recessed base are similarly glazed.
17√ in. (45.4 cm.) high
$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Japan.
Private collection, Europe.

LITERATURE

S. Marchant & Son, Recent Acquisitions, 2006, no. 2, pp. 8-9.

This vase is a particularly well-executed example of its type,
with an elegant form and even, attractively-colored sea-
green glaze. The three decorative registers are contrasting yet
complementary: the fnely carved horizontal ribs of the neck
and the vertical lappets frame the freely-scrolling lotus of the
central section.

A Longquan ‘phoenix-tail’ vase of similar size is illustrated
by R. Krahl and J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi
Saray Museum Istanbul, Vol. 1, Yuan and Ming Dynasty
Celadon Wares, London, 1986, no. 206, where the authors
note that similar vases were among the cargo of a ship which
sank off Sinan, Korea, in about the third decade of the 14th
century. Other examples include one illustrated by J. A.
Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington,
1956, pl. 129, no. 29.648 and another of similar height and
decoration in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, and illustrated
in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987,
no. 576.

Compare, also, the Longquan celadon ‘phoenix-tail’ vase
with similar ribbing on the upper neck, from the Percival
David Foundation and currently on loan to the British
Museum, museum no. PDF.237, which is inscribed with
a date corresponding to 1327.

元末/明初 龍泉青釉刻蓮紋鳳尾尊

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