Lot 238. A  'Longquan' celadon-glazed meiping, Song dynasty (960-1279). Height 8 1/2  in., 21.6 cm. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 USD. Lot sold 250,000 USD.© Sotheby's 2018.

the narrow foot rising to a subtly waisted lower body then gradually broadening to a full, rounded shoulder surmounted by a narrow neck with a lipped rim, the graceful contours of the profile highlighted by horizontal ribs covering the surface, covered overall in a soft seafoam-green glaze pooling and thinning along the ribs and suffused with craquelure, the recessed base glazed save for the footring burnt orange from firing.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, January 1994.

Note: See a pair of slightly smaller Longquan ribbed meiping of similar shape, each with a cover, sold twice in these rooms, first 8th May 1981, lot 248, and later 28th April 1982, lot 228; a larger meiping and cover excavated in the tomb of Cheng Daya, dated first year of Qingyuan, corresponding to 1195, in Lishui city, Songyang county, Zhejiang province, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Heavenly Blue: Southern Song Celadons, Nezu Museum, Tokyo, 2010, no. 3; and another, with a shorter neck, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, published on the museum's website (coll. no. 1957.52).

Meiping of this type vary in shape. For example, see a slightly larger meiping and cover with straight tapered sides, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, illustrated in G. St. G. M. Gompertz, Chinese Celadon Wares, London & Boston, 1980, pl. 92; another sold in these rooms, 22nd September 2005, lot 312; one with a more flattened shoulder, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat, sold in these rooms, 7th November 1980, lot 152; one of similar size as the present vase, lacking a cover, from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, sold in our London rooms, 25th March 1975, lot 48; another larger in size, sold in these rooms, 4th December 1984, lot 307; and a smaller meiping of baluster form sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17th November 1975, lot 182.