Page 143 - September 23 to 24 Important Chinese Art Christie's NYC

The shape of this censer, based on that of the ancient bronze li, was including several in renowned museum collections. Examples in the Tokyo
produced from the Southern Song into the Yuan period for the domestic as National Museum and Percival David Foundation, London, are published in
well as the export market. The numerous tripod censers retrieved from the Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 1, no. 97,
Sinan shipwreck provide evidence that this shape was much sought after in and vol. 6, no. 37, respectively. Others include the example illustrated by J.
Japan, the original destination of the ship's cargo, and where they have since Ayers, The Baur Collection: Chinese Ceramics, vol. I, Geneva, 1972, no. A99; in
been widely collected. the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of
Sung Dynasty Porcelain, Taipei, 1974, no. 12. A larger example (19.7 cm. diam.),
The thick, translucent glaze is typical of this type of Southern Song found in 1991 in Jinyu village of Nanqiong, Suining city, Sichuan province, is
Longquan ware, as is the lack of any decoration other than the flanges. A illustrated in Longquan Celadon: The Sichuan Museum Collection, Macau,
number of Longquan celadon censers of the same shape are published, 1998, pp. 210-11, no. 83.

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