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A RARE CARVED LONGQUAN CELADON JAR
- SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)

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A RARE CARVED LONGQUAN CELADON JAR
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    $30,000 - $40,000

Sale Information

Sale 2297
Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections
26 March 2010
New York, Rockefeller Plaza





Lot Description

A RARE CARVED LONGQUAN CELADON JAR
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
The body carved with a wide band of upright petals below a broad neck encircled by the applied body of a four-clawed dragon with ridged backbone, covered overall with a glaze of bluish-green tone except for the lip and foot rim left unglazed to expose the grey-bodied ware burnt orange in the firing; together with a celadon-glazed cover surmounted by an elephant-form finial
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high, Japanese wood box

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VARIOUS PROPERTIES

Provenance

Masuda Takashi (1848-1938) Collection.

Lot Notes

Celadon vessels of this type are discussed by Julian Thompson in the article "Chinese Celadons", Arts of Asia, November - December 1993, pp. 60-72, where this glaze color, referred to as Kinuta by the Japanese, "was rarely obtained". It appears that jars of this type originally appeared in pairs, one applied around its shoulder with the 'green dragon of the East', the other the 'white tiger of the West'. A pair of these jars in the Percival David Foundation is illustrated by M. Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares, London, 1977, pl. IV, no. 36. Medley suggests they may have been filled with aromatic oils.

A very similar jar and cover from the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, is illustrated by M. Tregear, Song Ceramics, New York, 1982, col. pl. 286, and another from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; Gongyi meishu bian; Taoci, vol. 2, Shanghai, 1988, no. 204. See, also, the slightly smaller jar with winged dragon and a cover surmounted by a recumbent dog, sold in these rooms, 21 September 2000, lot 282.

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