Lot 3670. Property from the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong. A rare Longquan celadon carved documentary temple vase, Ming dynasty, Xuande period (AD 1432); 44.5 cm. Lot Sold 317,500 HKD (Estimate 250,000 - 500,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

the inscription reads er zhe yuan, jiamen qing, ji ​​ren kou ping'an zhe , conveying good wishes for peace and prosperity of the whole family.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th November 1996, lot 648.
Collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, no. MME027.

Literature: Julian Thompson, 'Chinese Celadons', Arts of Asia , November-December 1993, p. 70, fig. 17.

Note: This rare and important vase is said to have been made as a pair to another famous altar vase – now preserved with a reduced neck – from the collection of Sir Percival David, incised to the neck with a dedicatory inscription and date corresponding to the seventh year of the Xuande period (1432), included in Ming: 50 Years that Changed China , British Museum, London, 2014, fig. 198 and illustrated in Sheila Riddell, Dated Chinese Antiquities 600-1650 , London, 1979, pl. 13, which remains one of the landmark publications for the dating of Ming celadon ware. These remarkable vases, likely dedicated at the same time, represent two examples of an important group of pieces commissioned for use in Buddhist and Daoist temples across the empire in the Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

Aside from the David Vase, no other closely related example of this specific design – with or without inscription – appears to be recorded . the Taiding period (corresponding to 1327), extensively published including in the Illustrated Catalog of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art , Section 7, London, 1997, pl. 237.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 7 May 2025