Page 47 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

1619
A RARE LONGQUAN CELADON
GUAN-TYPE OCTAGONAL STEM CUP
YUAN-MING DYNASTY (1279-1644)
The cup has faring, faceted sides supported on a
spreading stem foot encircled by a narrow collar,
and is covered overall with a clear glaze of pale
olive tone sufused with an extensive, icy crackle
that thins on the raised areas. Together with a
catalogue, Inki: hai, wan, taku tokubetsu tenji (The
Special Exhibition of Vessels: Cups, Bowls and Cup
Stands), Kuboso Museum, Izumi, 1989.
3º in. (8.4 cm.) high, Japanese wood box inscribed
by ceramic scholar Fujioka Ryoichi (1909-1991)
$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Japan.
EXHIBITED
Izumi, Kuboso Museum, Inki: hai, wan, taku
tokubetsu tenji (The Special Exhibition of Vessels:
Cups, Bowls and Cup Stands), 1989.
LITERATURE
Kuboso Museum, Inki: hai, wan, taku tokubetsu tenji
(The Special Exhibition of Vessels: Cups, Bowls and
Cup Stands), Izumi, 1989, no. 279.

Fujioka Ryoichi 藤岡了一 (1909-1991) was a
prominent Japanese scholar of Chinese ceramics.
He worked for the Kyoto National Museum and
the Nara National Museum, and participated in
compilation of several seminal works on Chinese
ceramics including the Toji Taikei, Heibonsha,
1972-1978.
The unusual shape of this rare stem cup is similar
to that of a slightly larger (13.3 cm.) Longquan
celadon stem cup with molded panels left in the
biscuit, illustrated in Splendour of Ancient Chinese
Art: Selections from the Collections of T. T. Tsui
Galleries of Chinese Art Worldwide, Hong Kong,
1996, pl. 38, where it is dated Yuan.
Guan-type wares produced at the Longquan kilns
show considerable variation. Some examples have
dark, slate-grey bodies and crackled, greyish blue
glaze while others imitate the cracked glaze and
form of Guan but have the light grey stoneware
bodies typical of standard Longquan ware. The
present stem cup, with its golden-brown glaze,
(inscriptions on inner cover of box)
is of a type known as beishoku (‘golden rice grain
color’) in Japanese. A rare beishoku Guanyao vase
from the Tsuneichi Inoue Collection, dated to the
Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), was sold at
Sotheby’s, London, 13 May 2015, lot 32.
元/明 龍泉窯仿官釉高足杯

(another view with box)
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