Page 109 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Song Ceramics
P. 109
T his serenely shaped and decorated meiping is one of the rare The present meiping with its well-rounded shoulders and relatively
examples of the early production of the Longquan kilns in wide neck is harmoniously proportioned, the complex flower scroll
Zhejiang province, in the Northern Song period (960-1127), before that covers two thirds of the body gives it a generous air, and the
Longquan wares reached the height of their popularity. At this bluish glaze tone is particularly successful. On comparable vases
time, the kilns, located in China’s southeast, were faced with the the design is mostly divided into narrower bands, the proportions
strong competition of northern celadon kilns such as Yaozhou in vary a lot, and the glazes tend to be more olive green; see, for
Shaanxi, which had the immense advantage of being located close example, a larger meiping of this type, excavated in Songyang
to the seats of power. With their pale green glazes and delicate county, Zhejiang province, and now in the Songyang County
incised designs, early Longquan wares show closer similarities to Museum, carved with an additional band of lappets around the
Yue wares, made further north in the same province, and at times shoulder, frequently illustrated, for example, in Zhu Boqian,
to Yaozhou ware, than to later Longquan wares with their deeper Longquan yao qingci/Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998,
green glazes, often free of design, and were previously often pl. 69; and in Zhongguo Longquan qingci/Longquan Celadon of
mistaken for Yue. Although the Yue kilns clearly exerted a strong China, Hangzhou, 1998, pl. 47 and on the cover; a slightly smaller,
influence, the Longquan kilns had in fact created a distinctive style densely decorated vase from the Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram
of their own already in the Northern Song, with their delicate carved collection, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, published in
designs covering the vessel surface, enlivened by fine combing. Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977,
Outstanding examples such as the present vase are, however, col. pl. 179; another from the Dexing Shuwu collection, sold in our
exceedingly rare. New York rooms, 18th March 2008, lot 86; and one showing two
narrow bands of scrolling flowers and a larger section of petals,
The dramatic transformation of the Longquan production, in terms sold in these rooms, 5th November 1996, lot 725; a much smaller
of material and workmanship, from the Five Dynasties period version, decorated with one band of peony scrolls above five ranks
(907-960), when the kilns produced mainly funerary wares, to of overlapping petals, from the Yang De Tang collection, was sold in
the Northern Song, when they turned to high-quality utilitarian our New York rooms, 17th March 2015, lot 64.
ceramics, becomes apparent when comparing a related, but
much more coarse vase with slightly angled shoulders, carved
with a peony scroll between bands of petals, attributed to the
Five Dynasties period, illustrated in Longquan qingci [Longquan
celadon], Beijing, 1966, pl. 2.
SONG — IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS FROM THE LE CONG TANG COLLECTION | 107
