Vase modelled after an ancient bronze. Stoneware, porcelain-type, carved, sprig-moulded decoration and celadon glaze. Longquan ware 龍泉窯. Longquan region, Zhejiang province 浙江省，龍泉地區. Yuan dynasty, AD 1280–1368. PDF 200. Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. PDF A40. British Museum © Trustees of the British Museum

Longquan stoneware vase of an archaic bronze gu or zun form, with a wide mouth and everted rim. The vase has pale grey-green glaze. There are four vertical raised ridges on the central and lower sections, and four sprig-moulded triangular sections of scrollwork on the neck. Height: 205 mm.

This celadon vase is modelled after an ancient ritual drinking vessel called a gu. Wealthy aristocrats and generals of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, (about 1600–256 BC), buried bronze vessels as part of ritual eating and drinking equipment for tombs. The shape was transformed into a vase in the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279) as catalogues of collections of antiques were published with woodblock-printed illustrations. Related gu vases with less well-defined decoration were recovered from the Sinan shipwreck of AD1323. This ship was sunk in the waters near the Dokdo islets off the Shinan coast in south-west Korea. Of the 17,000 ceramics on board, over half were from Longquan. The ship is believed to have been travelling from Ningbo in southern China to Korea, on its way to Japan. 

Acquisition notes: R. L. Hobson, 1934 records: From the Collection of Count Sakai

Bibliographic reference: Medley, Margaret, Volume 7: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 7 of 12, Tokyo, Kodansha ltd, 1975

Hobson, Robert L, A Catalogue of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain in the Collection of Sir Percival David Bt., F.S.A., London, The Stourton Press, 1934 

Pierson, Stacey, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1997 

Medley, Margaret, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1977 

Scott, Rosemary, Imperial Taste - Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 1989 

Medley, Margaret, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art: Illustrated Guide to the Collection, SOAS, 1974