Lot 1079. A large carved Longquan celadon vase, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 24 in. (61 cm.) high. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 10,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The vase has an oviform body and trumpet neck and is carved on the shoulder with a wide band of peony scroll bearing two large blossoms above a band of foliate scroll and upright petals on the lower body, the neck with a band of upright leaves below ribbed bands. The vase is covered with a thick glaze of sea-green tone.

The Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection.

Provenance: Warren E. Cox Associates, Inc., New York, 9 February 1972.

Note: A similar Longquan vase is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 14, no. 231. Compare, also, the well-known Longquan celadon vase in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art now on long term loan to the British Museum, London, with an incised inscription at the base of its slender, tapering neck dating the vase to 1454. Another example is illustrated by R. Krahl, ‘Longquan Celadon of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul’, T.O.C.S., 1984-1985, vol. 49, p. 53. no. 23. See, also, a similar vase but carved with chrysanthemum scroll, sold at Christie’s New York, 26 March 2003, lot 240.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 13 September 2019