Lot 2906. A large carved Longquan celadon ‘phoenix-tail’ vase, Ming dynasty, early 15th century; 25 3/4 in. (65.4 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 700,000 - HKD 900,000. Price realised HKD 875,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The vase is heavily potted and deeply carved on the shoulder with a wide band of chrysanthemum scroll bearing three large blossoms above a narrow band of foliate scroll and upright petals on the lower body. The flaring mouth rim is carved with horizontal fluted bands and the neck incised with a band of upright plantain leaves. The whole raised on a foot moulded in imitation of a stand, covered with a thick glaze of olive-green tone, with the exception of the unglazed foot ring.

Provenance: The T.T. Tsui Collection
Sold at Christie’s New York, 26 May 2003, lot 240
Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 March 2008, lot 1842

Exhibited: The Empress Place Museum, Gems of Chinese Art: Selections of Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes from the Tsui Art Foundations, Singapore, 1992, no. 68

Note: A celadon vase of similar proportions with similar decoration on the neck and lower body, but with a peony scroll rather than a chrysanthemum scroll at the shoulder, is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu: Ming, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 14, no. 231. Similar example of similar height can also be found in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, which is illustrated in Tsai Mei-fen, Green: Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 2009, p. 158, pl. 81. Compare, also, the well-known celadon vase in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, now on long-term loan to the British Museum, with an incised inscription at the base of its slender, tapering neck dating the vase to 1454, see Stacey Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997, p. 35, no. 238.

Large dated temple vase, Ming dynasty, dated around AD1454. Stoneware, porcelain-type, incised, carved and with celadon glaze, Longquan ware, Longquan region, Zhejiang province, 69 cm. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF 238 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 29 November 2017, Hong Kong