Lot 376. A Longquan celadon 'Toad' incense burner and cover, Ming dynasty (1369-1644); 14 cm, 5 1/2  in. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 HKD. Unsold. © Sotheby's.

the censer and the cover modelled as a three-legged toad perched on a larger toad, the cover with an opening through the toad's mouth, Japanese box.

Provenance: A Japanese private collection.

Note: Other zoomorphic and figural Longquan vessels include a Ming-dynasty goose-form incense burner in the British Museum, London (inv. no. OA 1938.5-24.10), illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, cat. no. 16:92; a phoenix-shaped incense burner in the Idemitsu Museum, included in Idemitsu Bijutsukan zhin zuroku. Chugoku toji/Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, vol. 3, Tokyo, 1987, no, 796; and a Yuan-dynasty water dropper modelled in the form of a boy riding on a buffalo, excavated from Taishun County in 1983, illustrated in Zhu Boqian, ed., Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 242, no. 226.