Page 104 - 2019 OctoberSur Quo Wei Lee Collectim Important Chinese Art Hong Kong

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A RARE LARGE LONGQUAN CELADON BARBED CHARGER
EARLY MING DYNASTY

明初 龍泉青釉劃花折沿菱口大盤

the robust body with lobed shallow sides rising from a short
foot to a flat everted barbed rim of twelve bracket foliations,
carved on the flat interior with a dense diapered design
surrounded by scrollwork, the cavetto decorated with a
band of detached fruiting and flowering sprays, the exterior
similarly crisply carved with detached lotus sprays, unctuously
applied overall with an attractive olive-green glaze, save for
an unglazed ring on the base left in the biscuit and burnt
brownish-orange in the firing
50.2 cm, 19¾ in.

HK$ 300,000-400,000
US$ 38,400-51,500

Thickly enveloped in an attractive sea-green glaze, the present
charger is impressive for its large size and the finely rendered
diaper design surrounded by delicately carved fruit sprays.
See a smaller barbed charger (41 cm), carved in the centre
with a grid of coins encircled within a continuous floral scroll,
preserved in the Ningbo Museum and illustrated in Celadons
from the Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, pl. 269. A larger
example of this shape (56.5 cm), but decorated with a curling
lotus spray, also from the collection of Sir Quo-Wei Lee, was
sold in these rooms, 3rd October 2018, lot 106.
It is mentioned in the encyclopaedic work by the Ming scholar
Gao Lian Zun sheng ba jian [The Eight Discourses on Living]
published in 1591 that, for a scented room, large chargers
such as those from the Longquan kilns were ideal vessels to
hold one to two dozen of fragrant citruses (xiang yuan).