A Large 'Longquan' Celadon Tripod Censer with Applied Peonies. Yuan Dynasty

the body of the cylindrical vessel with applied peony scroll between a pair of subsidiary borders with applied floral and cloud-scrolls, all upon three sturdy cabriole legs, the interior of the well with typical applied bottom, the vessel covered with a thick bubble-suffused glaze of olive-green except for the applied bottom and knife-pared underside, revealing the fine gray body burnt orange.

height 7 in., 17.8 cm; diameter 8 1/4 in., 21cm - Estimate: 20,000—30,000 USD

Provenance:  Private Collection, New York.
Thereafter with the present owner.

Note: The present vessel is a fine example of 'Longquan' censers of this form and decoration, although it is rare to find ones with a cloud design band around both the rim and the foot. See a censer with similar molded peony motif around the body beneath a single cloud design band sold in our London rooms, 7th June 2000, lot 360.

Censers of this type were inspired by earlier Song dynasty vessels that are generally smaller in size. See a Song censer excavated from a tomb in Quanzhou, Fujian province, dated in accordance with AD 1286, illustrated in Longquan qingci, Beijing, 1966, pl. 23 bottom, together with a censer, in the Shanghai Museum, attributed to the Yuan dynasty, pl. 50. Another closely related censer in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is published in He Li, Chinese Ceramics, London, 1996, no. 271; and one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taibei, 1998, pl. 183-1, together with a later, Ming period, censer with molded decoration, in the Ningbo City Museum, pl. 258. A further example can be found in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 1, p. 303, pl. 568. A 'Longquan' censer of similar form, decorated with the design of trigrams in relief between two cloud bands, as seen on the present vessel, found in a ship wrecked off the Korean coast around AD 1323, is included in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan, Seoul, 1985, pl. 37, no. 52.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art including Chinese and Japanese Art from The Collection of Frieda and Milton Rosenthal. 16 Sep 08. www.sotheby's.com