Lot 3811. A fine and very rare carved early Ming Longquan celadon deep bowl, Ming dynasty, 15th century; 8 5/8 in. (22 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 600,000 - HKD 800,000. Price Realized HKD 800,000. © Christie's Images Ltd. 2011

Finely carved to the exterior with a deatached floral sprigs including day-lily, chrysanthemum, peony and camellia flowers, below a lingzhi scroll within double-line borders at the rim, the interior with a central stylised floral bloom surrounded by a wide composite floral scroll, covered overall in a rich bubble-suffused glaze of sea-green tone, lacquered wood cover, Japanese box.

Provenance: Higashi Honganji Temple. Kyoto
A Japanese private collection.

Note: The shape of this bowl is extremely rare for Longquan celadon wares. The lacquer lid suggests that this bowl served as a water container in the Japanese tea ceremony.

A number of bowls of similar form carved with varying combinations of flowers were included in the National Palace Museum, Taipei exhibition Green-Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 2009, nos. 16 - 22. Compare also the undecorated bowl closest in form to the present example included in the same exhibition, no. 14.

The form and similarities in the decoration can also be seen in blue and white bowls of the Yongle period. Compare a Yongle period blue and white basin with peony scroll to well and detached fruiting branches to the exterior from the Walter Hochstadter Collection sold at Christie's New York, 18 March 2009, lot 518. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1 June 2011, Convention Hall