A finely carved Longquan celadon 'Bamboo' and 'Prunus' vase (meiping). Ming Dynasty, 14th-15th Century. Photo Sotheby's

sturdily potted with full rounded shoulders elegantly tapering to a narrow waisted foot, finely carved around the exterior with gnarled and blossoming prunus branches intertwined with leafy sprigs of bamboo, set between a wide lingzhi scroll encircling the foot and a ruyi lappet band around the shoulder and enclosing a lotus flower, below two peony blooms around the neck, evenly applied overall with a rich, lustrous olive-green glaze, the footring unglazed and burnt orange in the firing. Height 15 in., 38 cm. Estimate 150,000-200,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th April 2007, lot 733.

NOTE: The similarity of Longquan celadons and Jingdezhen white, and blue and white porcelains in the Hongwu and Yongle periods has long been recognized, but only recently have excavations at the Longquan kiln sites supported the notion that imperial wares might have been made at Longquan, commissioned by the court in Beijing; and an exhibition organized by Ts'ai Mei-fen at the National Palace Museum, Taipei has since confirmed the existence of much fine Longquan celadon ware in the palace collection.

This meiping shape is characteristic of the Longquan kiln's production in the early Ming period, and a closely related vase in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan was included in the exhibition Bílü - Mingdai Longquan yao qingci/Green - Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 68. The incised decoration is closely related to motifs developed at the Jingdezhen kilns, although the same design does not appear to be known from that manufactory. Kiln wasters of many related vases and matching covers have been excavated from the imperial Longquan kilns at Chuzhou, Zhejiang province, see Ye Yingting and Hua Yunong, Faxian: Da Ming Chuzhou Longquan guanyao [Discovery: Imperial ware of the great Ming dynasty from Longquan in Chuzhou], Hangzhou, 2005, pp. 39-101.

A covered meiping with the same decorative motif is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics: Ming, vol. II, Shanghai, 1999-2000, no. 189. Compare also the meiping sold in our London rooms of similar form and design, 7th November 2007, lot 291 as well as the vase with lotus bouquets from the Meiyintang Collection sold in our Hong Kong rooms 7th April 2011, lot 46 and illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1608 and p. 2, fig. 1b.Compare also a vase of similar form carved with peach branches from the Edward T. Chow collection, sold in our London rooms, 16th December 1980, lot 323, and another, all with designs echoing blue-and-white prototypes. The same shape is better known from undecorated celadon vases, see, for example, a piece from the Yokogawa collection in the Tokyo National Museum, published in Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan zuhan mokuroku.Chgoku tji hen/ Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1988-90, vol. 2. pl. 486; and another from the collection of H.R.N. Norton in the exhibition Celadon Wares, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1947, cat. no. 104.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York. 14 september 2011 www.sothebys.com