Page 32 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT
PRIVATE NORTH AMERICAN COLLECTION
716
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.
$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE
Important Chinese Ceramics from a European
Private Collection; Sotheby’s Hong Kong,
4 November 1997, lot 1393.

Rosemary Scott
Senior International Academic Consultant
This magnifcent bowl is exceptional not only for
its large size, but also for 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.

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