A LONGQUAN CELADON 'BAMBOO-NECK' VASE, XIANWENPING

MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Details

A LONGQUAN CELADON 'BAMBOO-NECK' VASE, XIANWENPING
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
The compressed body is encircled by a series of horizontal raised bands, and the tall, slightly tapering neck with two bow-string bands in imitation of bamboo below the wide, galleried mouth with incurved rim. The vase is covered overall with a crackled, unctuous glaze of blue-green color.
11 in. (28 cm.) high, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Private collection, Kyoto, formed before World War II.

Lot Essay

Longquan vases of this elegant form have been sought after since the Southern Song period. The encircling lines at the junction of shoulder and neck and the second-lowest line on the body appear to be linked to luting lines. The fine, raised lines give the shape one of its Chinese names, xianwenping, meaning 'string pattern vase.' A similar vase, dated Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Green – Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, no. 151. Another similar example with a cup-shaped mouth, dated to the Ming dynasty, is illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 227. See, also, the similar example sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2017, lot 3049.

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