Lot 31. Property from an Old Belgian Family Collection. A rare pair of 'Longquan' celadon-glazed mallet vases, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Height 17.2 cm; Height 17.3 cm. Lot Sold 38,100 EUR (Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 EUR). © Sotheby's 2023

Provenance: John Sparks Ltd., London, 31st March 1961 (£750). 

Note: Longquan mallet form, or kinuta, vases became popular among the elites in the Southern Song period, (see a piece excavated from a Southern Song tomb in Zhu Boqian, Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 149, no. 116); and they even served the Southern Song court (see Shen Qionghua, "Discussion on Relationship between Longquan Kiln and Government in Song Dynasty", in Tianxia longquan longquan qingci yu quanqiu hua / Longquan of the World Longquan Celadon and Globalization, vol. II, Beijing, 2019, p. 342. Fine celadon pieces like this were also treasured at court as antiques in later dynasties as evidenced by a similar vase formerly in the Qing imperial collection and once stored in Yangxin dian (Hall of Mental Cultivation), illustrated in Tianxia longquan, op.cit., pl. 9, p. 40. 

In Japan, they were so highly regarded that the term designating their mallet shape, kinuta, became a general term for a fine celadon glaze. Several fine examples are in Japan even ranked as National Treasure or Important Cultural Property, see Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1987, no. 78 and figs. 78 a-e, where the authors note that vases of this type have been valued in Japan since the Kamakura period (1192 - 1333); compare also two similar mallet vases with phoenix-form handles, one sold in our London rooms, 5th November 2008; and one in our New York rooms, 23rd March 2011, lot 536.

Sotheby's. Arts d'Asie, Paris, 15 juin 2023