Lot 236. A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed 'Cong' vase, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Height 8 1/2  in., 21.7 cm. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. © Sotheby's 2018.

the archaistic form with a tall, square-section body between a short circular foot and neck, each long edge of the body molded with eight raised horizontal bands within a raised rectangular frame, a recessed central panel dividing the frames on each side, covered overall in a lustrous celadon glaze thinning to a pale bluish-white at the raised edges and pooling to seafoam-green at the recessed areas, two Japanese wood boxes (5).

Provenance: Japanese Private Collection.

Note: Celadon vases of this type imitate archaic ritual jade implements in shape and color and are one of the most iconic types of Song ceramics. The form derives from jade cong, which are open tubes, and are associated with the Neolithic Liangzhu culture. A fine example from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, was included in the exhibition Gems of Liangzhu Culture, Hong Kong Museum of History, Hong Kong, 1992, cat. no. 57.

Several celadon-glazed cong vases can be seen in famous collections throughout the world; one in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Longquan qingci [Celadon of Longquan], Beijing, 1966, pl. 15; one is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. Lung-ch'uan Ware, Ko Ware and Other Wares, Tokyo, 1974, pls 8 and 9; another from the Eumorfopoulos Collection and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is included in John Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, pl. 124; and a fourth example from the Oppenheim Collection and now in the British Museum, London, is published in Jessica Rawson, ed., The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, pl. 8 left.

Compare also a vase of this type, from the Toguri Collection, sold in our London rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 53; one from the Baron Hatvany Collection, included in the exhibition Song Ceramics, Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, Singapore, 1983, cat. no. 36, and sold in our London rooms, 5th November 1996, lot 605; an example sold in our London rooms, 5th November 2014, lot 23; another, sold in the same rooms, 13th May 2015, lot 106; one sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 4th April 2017, lot 3009; and a further one sold in our London rooms, 16th May 2018, lot 75.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 12 sept. 2018, 10:30 AM