.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
As on other vases of this form, the raised 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, xianwen ping, meaning 'string pattern vase'.
Vases of this form are seen with two slightly different mouth rim types. Some, like the Falk vase, have a wide mouth which is only shallowly dished. Others, like that in the Percival David Foundation, included in Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation, rev. ed., 1997, pp. 19 and 30, no. 202, have somewhat narrower mouths with more sharply inverted rims. The fact that the two versions were contemporary is emphasized by the finds from a remarkable Southern Song hoard excavated at Jinyucun, Suining City, Sichuan province in 1991. One of these is almost identical to the Falk vase; see Newly Discovered Southern Song Ceramics - A Thirteenth-Century "Time Capsule", Japan, Asahi Shimbun, 1998, p. 17, no. 5. Three further vases from this site, two large and one smaller, have narrower, more inverted rims, ibid., pp. 14-16, nos. 2-4. Vases of this form have also been excavated from kiln sites in the Longquan area, such as the example illustrated in Longquan Qingci Yanjiu, Beijing, 1989, pl. 41, fig. 1.
A smaller vase of the Falk type in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II): The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Li Huibing (ed.), Hong Kong 1996, no. 103, and another of these vases with the same wide mouth as the Falk vase in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in Gugong Cangci, Longquan yao, Hong Kong, 1962, p. 42, pl. 8.
These tall vases with 'bamboo' necks were much admired in Japan, both for their elegant form and the beauty of their glaze. It is not surprising, therefore, that vases of this type were among the cargo of the Sinan wreck, which foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea on its way to Japan, in AD 1323. See National Museum of Korea, Sinan Wreck Exhibition, Seoul, 1977, no. 15. A vase of the narrower-mouthed type now in the Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Song, Tokyo, 1977, no. 81. This vase has been designated by the Japanese authorities as an Important Cultural Property: an indication of the respect with which such pieces are regarded.
Vases of this form are seen with two slightly different mouth rim types. Some, like the Falk vase, have a wide mouth which is only shallowly dished. Others, like that in the Percival David Foundation, included in Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation, rev. ed., 1997, pp. 19 and 30, no. 202, have somewhat narrower mouths with more sharply inverted rims. The fact that the two versions were contemporary is emphasized by the finds from a remarkable Southern Song hoard excavated at Jinyucun, Suining City, Sichuan province in 1991. One of these is almost identical to the Falk vase; see Newly Discovered Southern Song Ceramics - A Thirteenth-Century "Time Capsule", Japan, Asahi Shimbun, 1998, p. 17, no. 5. Three further vases from this site, two large and one smaller, have narrower, more inverted rims, ibid., pp. 14-16, nos. 2-4. Vases of this form have also been excavated from kiln sites in the Longquan area, such as the example illustrated in Longquan Qingci Yanjiu, Beijing, 1989, pl. 41, fig. 1.
A smaller vase of the Falk type in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II): The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Li Huibing (ed.), Hong Kong 1996, no. 103, and another of these vases with the same wide mouth as the Falk vase in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in Gugong Cangci, Longquan yao, Hong Kong, 1962, p. 42, pl. 8.
These tall vases with 'bamboo' necks were much admired in Japan, both for their elegant form and the beauty of their glaze. It is not surprising, therefore, that vases of this type were among the cargo of the Sinan wreck, which foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea on its way to Japan, in AD 1323. See National Museum of Korea, Sinan Wreck Exhibition, Seoul, 1977, no. 15. A vase of the narrower-mouthed type now in the Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Song, Tokyo, 1977, no. 81. This vase has been designated by the Japanese authorities as an Important Cultural Property: an indication of the respect with which such pieces are regarded.