Lot Essay
The distinctive shape of this bowl, with small foot ring and wide, inturned mouth rim, is based on a Middle Eastern prototype common to both pottery and metal. For a Persian bronze bowl dating to the 12th-13th century, shown alongside a Longquan bowl of corresponding form, and virtually identical to the present bowl, see M. Medley, Metalwork and Chinese Ceramics, London, 1972, p. 45, pl.15 a and b.
Similar Longquan bowls recovered from the Sinan wreck off the coast of Korea, are illustrated in the Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, National Museum of Korea, Seoul, 1977, col. pls. 107-9. Compare, also, the bowl of this shape and design illustrated in Zhongguo taoci daxi, Song Yuan taoci daquan, Taipei, 1988, p. 410.
Similar Longquan bowls recovered from the Sinan wreck off the coast of Korea, are illustrated in the Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, National Museum of Korea, Seoul, 1977, col. pls. 107-9. Compare, also, the bowl of this shape and design illustrated in Zhongguo taoci daxi, Song Yuan taoci daquan, Taipei, 1988, p. 410.