68 - An Extremely Rare Large Longquan Celadon Carved and Inscribed Vase, early Ming dynastyThe vase is covered overall in a good sea green celadon glaze and has a wide, trumpet-shaped mouth, with a band of horizontal fluting on the exterior of the upper neck above a scrolling peony design, the shoulder encircled by a border of cloud-collar motifs, and the main body carved with continuous scrolling peony, all above a band of lappets encircling the lower body. A single Chinese character,??tian, referring to the Emperor, is incised beneath the glaze on the inner rim.

An Extremely Rare Large Longquan Celadon Carved and Inscribed Vase, early Ming dynastyThe vase is covered overall in a good sea green celadon glaze and has a wide, trumpet-shaped mouth, with a band of horizontal fluting on the exterior of the upper neck above a scrolling peony design, the shoulder encircled by a border of cloud-collar motifs, and the main body carved with continuous scrolling peony, all above a band of lappets encircling the lower body. A single Chinese character,??tian, referring to the Emperor, is incised beneath the glaze on the inner rim. Longquan kilns originated in the late Tang dynasty and reached their peak period during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Longquan celadon is celebrated for its varied forms, refined decoration and lustrous, jade-like green glaze, qualities that embody the traditional Chinese aesthetic appreciation of understated elegance, purity and the soft translucency of jade. According to the??Da Ming Huidian??(Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty), in the twenty-sixth year of the Hongwu reign (1393), Longquan kilns were elevated to the status of official kilns supplying tribute to the imperial court. This development is traditionally associated with a marked advancement in the quality of their wares. Large vases with trumpet-shaped mouths and generously rounded bodies were characteristic products of the period. In the late Ming treatise??Zunsheng Bajian??(Eight Discourses on the Art of Living), large Longquan vases were praised as being unrivalled by those of other kilns, a testament to their considerable reputation at the time. Of particular interest is the character??tian incised beneath the glaze on the inner rim of the present vase. Ceramic fragments bearing comparable marks have reportedly been excavated at an official kiln site associated with the early Ming capital in present-day Anhui province. Such archaeological evidence is exceptionally rare and potentially significant for the dating of related wares. The mark on the present vase may therefore provide an important clue to its significance to the imperial court. Comparable examples include a Longquan celadon vase, dated to the 5th year of the Jingtai period (1454), in the Percival David Collection, illustrated as no.108A and B in G. de St.G.M Gompertz, Chinese Celadon Wares, London, 1980, along with another vase in the collection of the British Museum (accession no. 1984,0202.71), a Yuan-dynasty vase in the National Museum of China, and a similar lotus-decorated vase in the collection of the Guangdong Museum. Related examples have also appeared on the international auction market. Sothebys offered a large Longquan vase of closely related decorative design, similarly bearing an inscribed character on the inner rim, as Lot 1 on 18 September 2024. A related vase of a later date was sold by Christies as Lot 1623 on 22 March 2019. H:60cm [] Link of detail photos: