finely potted with a compressed body rising from three splayed tapering cylindrical legs to a constricted neck and flat everted rim, the body encircled by a thin raised fillet interrupted by three ridges, each extending along the body to the legs, attractively covered overall save for the tips of the legs with a translucent pale sea-green colour thinning to off-white at the raised edges and pooling to a thicker and darker green in areas, wood stand - 13.3 cm, 5 1/4  in.

Provenance: Barton Baker, acquired in Scottsdale, Arizona, 17th July 1977

Note: 'Longquan' celadon incense burners of these classic elegant proportions, based on archaic bronze tripods (li), are characteristic of the Southern Song period. Celadon vessels of this form have been treasured and collected in Japan, where several examples are in historic collections. A celadon incense burner preserved in the Engakuji, a temple near Kamakura, Japan, which has been designated an 'Important Cultural Property' is illustrated in Chugoku no toji [Chinese ceramics], vol. 4, Tokyo, 1997, col. pl. 67.

Another similar incense burner, in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum Collection, is published in Longquan Celadon of China, Hangzhou, 1998, pl. 73; and another is included in Celadons from the Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, pl. 120. Compare also a vessel excavated at Lijiashan, Longquan county, published in line drawing in Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, fig. 30 (17); and a Southern Song shard from an incense burner of this type collected at Longquan in 1960, included in the exhibition Kiln Sites of Ancient China, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1980, cat. no. 97.

A 'Longquan' incense burner of the same size and form, from the Cunliffe Collection, was sold in our London rooms, 29th October 1957, lot 89; another from the Muwen Tang Collection, was also sold in our London rooms, 12th November 2003, lot 90; and a third slightly smaller censer with a later Japanese pierced metal cover by Joueki Nakagawa, was sold in these rooms, 30th March 2006, lot 28..

Sotheby's. Curiosity III, Hong Kong, 04 Apr 2017, 10:30 AM