A fine Longquan celadon moulded vase, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty (1127-1368)
Lot 3276. A fine Longquan celadon moulded vase, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty (1127-1368); 10 7/8 in. (27.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price Realized HKD 525,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013
The baluster body is moulded with a wide band of peony scroll, above a band of slender upright leaves, and below the tall trumpet neck moulded with raised bowstring bands rising to the flared mouth rim. The vase is covered overall with an olive-green glaze, with the foot covered in a russet-coloured wash, Japanese double wood boxes.
Provenance: Baron Fujita family collection
Sold at an auction organised by Osaka Bijitsu Club, held at the Baron Fujita family residence, on 10 May 1929, no. 237.
Note: Longquan trumpet-neck vases with bowstring bands on the neck and upright leaves around the foot are relatively rare. Compare to a Longquan celadon vase of similar form and decoration, but of slightly smaller size (25 cm.) recovered from the cargo of a trading vessel that sank off the coast of Sinan, South Korea, in the 1320s, included in the Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, National Mseum of Korea, Seoul, 1977, col. pl. 10; and another example moulded with a sparsely arranged floral scroll on the body, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 166, fig. 482; and one with sprig-moulded decoration of leafy sprays on the neck in the Matsuoka Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in the Inaugural Exhibition catalogue Selected Masterpieces of The Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1975, p. 58, pl. 47.