Page 268 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE NORTH AMERICAN COLLECTION
1548
A VERY RARE LARGE LONGQUAN CELADON CARVED BOWL
EARLY MING DYNASTY, 15TH CENTURY
The heavily potted bowl has deep, rounded sides, and is carved in the
center of the interior with a dense foliate medallion below a band of
composite foliate scroll in the well and a border of lingzhi scroll at the
rim. The exterior is carved with a continuous band of two repeated
lotus pond vignettes, with lotus plants, and various water weeds and
grasses, between borders of fower-flled petal lappets below and
lingzhi scroll above. The foot is encircled by a band of key fret. The
bowl is covered overall with a glaze of soft olive-green color that
continues over the foot onto the base where there is an unglazed ring
burnt orange in the fring.
15¡ in. (39 cm.) diam.
$60,000-80,000
PROVENANCE
Important Chinese Ceramics from a European Private Collection;
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 November 1997, lot 1393.
Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director, Asian Art
This magnifcent bowl is exceptional not only for its large size, but also for Huai’an City, Jiangsu province revealed a huge quantity of vessels,
the beauty of its glaze and the harmonious organization of its decoration.
Bowls of this size are rare, and the dificulty of producing such pieces
suggests that they were probably produced for specifc orders.
It has long been recognised that Longquan celadons were much admired
both inside China and abroad during the Song and Yuan dynasties, but they
were also very highly regarded in the early Ming period, and documentary, as
well as recent archaeological evidence has confrmed that they were made
for the early Ming court, while fne early Ming celadons preserved in the
Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul and in the Ardebil Collection in the Iran
Bastan in Tehran, also bear witness to the popularity of Longquan celadons
at courts in the Near East. The enthusiastic appreciation of contemporary
Japanese patrons is also evidenced by the fne examples preserved in
Japanese collections today. Excavations at the Longquan Dayao kiln site
have revealed sherds bearing oficial marks, and other excavations have
emphasised that fne Longquan wares were also made at other kiln sites in
the Ming dynasty.
(another view)
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Scholars tend to believe that the Longquan celadons made at the Dayao
kilns are of the highest quality, and excavations begun in 2006 have provided
an indication of the extensive production at this site, which appears to have
continued for some 400 years. Excavated examples from the early Ming
period have shown that this was another highpoint for Longquan celadon
production, when both large and fnely potted vessels of superb quality
were manufactured. One fragment of a Ming dynasty dish excavated at
the Dayao kilns bore the Chinese character guan oficial on its base. The
Daming Huidian, vol. 194 states that in the 26th year of the Hongwu reign
(AD 1393) some imperial wares were made in the Yao and Chu kilns [in
Jiangxi and Zhejiang]. Volume I of the Ming Xuanzong Shilu suggests that
a court-appointed oficial was regularly sent to supervise the fring of these
wares for imperial use up to AD 1457, and possibly even to AD 1465 (see
Zhu Boqian (ed.) Longquan qingci, Taipei, 1998, p. 47; and Tsai Mei-fen (ed.),
Bilu - Mingdai Longquanyao qingci, Taipei, 2009, p. 22). After the Chenghua
reign (AD 1464-85) the quality of Longquan celadons declined, and their fnal
‘golden era’ was over.
Nevertheless, the literati in the late Ming dynasty frequently refer to
Longquan celadons in their writings. Among the vessels which were
specifcally mentioned are large vessels, such as bowls or dishes to hold
Buddha-hand citrons and meiping vases. Vessels of large size, such as the
current bowl, were regarded as especially desirable. Although the quality of
Longquan celadons declined after the 15th century, nevertheless even in 1591
one writer noted that: ‘If plum blossoms are to be arranged in winter, large
Longquan celadon vases are a necessity’. It seems probable that he was
referring to those vessels made in the early Ming period.
In August 2009 the excavation of a Longquan celadon deposit at Hexia,
predominantly dating to the Ming dynasty from the reign of the Hongwu
Emperor (1368-98) to that of the Tianshun Emperor (1457-64). The
archaeologists surmise that celadons from the Longquan kilns were sent
here to be shipped up the Grand Canal to the court. The fnds suggest
that only the fnest pieces were chosen and that those deemed to lack the
required perfection were broken and discarded.
A slightly smaller bowl (D: 32.5 cm.) with somewhat simpler decoration
to the current bowl is in the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum
(illustrated in Longquan qingci, op. cit., p. 274, no. 260). A further bowl
from the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, also of slightly
smaller size (D: 30.3 cm.) was included in the exhibition Green Wares from
Zhejiang in Hong Kong, 1993, no. 79. Similar bowls, dated to c. AD 1400,
are in the collection of the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul. One is slightly smaller
than the current bowl (D: 36 cm.) is illustrated by J. Ayers and R Krahl in
Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, I, Yuan and Ming
Dynasty Celadon Wares, London, 1986, p. 359, no. 488, while a group of
four slightly larger bowls (D: 38-40 cm.) are described on page 295 of the
same publication, one being illustrated as no. 222. Two further examples
are in the collection of the British Museum, London. One of similar size to
the current example is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in
the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 480, no. 16:47, while a slightly smaller
bowl is illustrated in the same volume, no. 16:48. All these bowls have dense
decoration with a distinctive decorative band around the exterior rim, like
that on the current bowl, often bearing a lingzhi scroll. The interiors, like that
of the current bowl, have a central foral medallion and a foral scroll around
the interior walls. They all have an unglazed ring on the exterior base to
allow fring on a cylindrical setter. All are evenly potted and bear generous,
soft green, glazes. A slightly smaller bowl (D: 32 cm.) of this type is in the
collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Bilu - Mingdai
Longquanyao qingci, op. cit, pp. 66-7, no. 26.
While by the middle of the Ming dynasty, production at the Longquan kilns
had declined, the current bowl provides ample proof of the high quality of
prestigious wares made at the Longquan kilns - for the elite in China or for
distinguished foreign patrons - in the early part of the Ming dynasty.
明初十五世紀 龍泉窯青釉刻蓮塘水藻紋大盌