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Lot Essay
Flower vases of this type are extremely rare and have been greatly treasured in China and especially in Japan, since the time of their manufacture. They were particularly admired for their elegance of shape, which complemented the beauty of their glazes, and became revered tea ceremony vessels. Two such vases are recorded in contemporary Japanese collections. One of these, which is a little smaller than the current vase, is now in a private collection, but was owned in the Muromachi period (1392-1568) by the famous tea master and arbiter of taste Takeno Joo (1502-55), subsequently by the powerful warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98), and in the Edo period by the Mitsui family. See Chinese Ceramics from Japanese Collections, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1977, no. 23. Its early ownership was recorded by Yamanoue Soji (1544-90) in his tea ceremony memorandum.
The other vase is in the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts (Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Song Ceramics, Tokyo, 1999, p. 106, no. 69). Previously owned by the Ouchi family of Yamaguchi Prefecture, this vase is of similar size and has the same elegantly tapering form as the current example. In modern times the Nezu vase has been designated an Important Cultural Property, and is known by the name Ouchozutsu. It has been preserved as a denseihin (an heirloom, handed down through the generations), and esteemed as an omeibutsu (a masterpiece). Of particular importance is the fact that the vase has been revered as a Higashiyama gomotsu work and was acquired by Nezu. See Hiroko Nishida, The Collection and Appreciation of Chinese Art Objects in 15th-16th Century Japan, and their Legacy, Collecting Chinese Art: Interpretation and Display, S. Pierson (ed.), Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 20, Percival David Foundation, London, 2000, p. 17, fig. 6. The Higashiyama gomotsu was compiled for the Ashikaga by one of the Shoguns connoisseurship attendants, Noami (AD 1397-1471), and is the manual of the Shoguns art collection. While the Ashikaga family seals could be appended to Higashiyama gomotsu works on silk or paper, they could not be applied to ceramics. Thus, after the collapse of the Muromachi shogunate, when objects from the collection were dispersed, only those, like the Nezu vase which had its origins documented, have their illustrious past recognized.
A somewhat smaller and less elongated vase of Guan ware, is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1989, p. 90, no. 51. Two other Guan ware vessels of similar form, but banded just above the foot, are also in the National Palace Museum, ibid., p. 87, nos. 48-9. For a smaller Longquan celadon vase of somewhat more cylindrical form, from the Michael Calmann Collection, Musée Guimet, see D. Lion-Goldschmidt and J. C. Moreau-Gobard, Chinese Art, 1960, col. pl. 144. Another of more cylindrical, less tapering form was sold at Sotheby's, New York 31 May-1 June, 1994, lot 271.
The other vase is in the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts (Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Song Ceramics, Tokyo, 1999, p. 106, no. 69). Previously owned by the Ouchi family of Yamaguchi Prefecture, this vase is of similar size and has the same elegantly tapering form as the current example. In modern times the Nezu vase has been designated an Important Cultural Property, and is known by the name Ouchozutsu. It has been preserved as a denseihin (an heirloom, handed down through the generations), and esteemed as an omeibutsu (a masterpiece). Of particular importance is the fact that the vase has been revered as a Higashiyama gomotsu work and was acquired by Nezu. See Hiroko Nishida, The Collection and Appreciation of Chinese Art Objects in 15th-16th Century Japan, and their Legacy, Collecting Chinese Art: Interpretation and Display, S. Pierson (ed.), Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 20, Percival David Foundation, London, 2000, p. 17, fig. 6. The Higashiyama gomotsu was compiled for the Ashikaga by one of the Shoguns connoisseurship attendants, Noami (AD 1397-1471), and is the manual of the Shoguns art collection. While the Ashikaga family seals could be appended to Higashiyama gomotsu works on silk or paper, they could not be applied to ceramics. Thus, after the collapse of the Muromachi shogunate, when objects from the collection were dispersed, only those, like the Nezu vase which had its origins documented, have their illustrious past recognized.
A somewhat smaller and less elongated vase of Guan ware, is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1989, p. 90, no. 51. Two other Guan ware vessels of similar form, but banded just above the foot, are also in the National Palace Museum, ibid., p. 87, nos. 48-9. For a smaller Longquan celadon vase of somewhat more cylindrical form, from the Michael Calmann Collection, Musée Guimet, see D. Lion-Goldschmidt and J. C. Moreau-Gobard, Chinese Art, 1960, col. pl. 144. Another of more cylindrical, less tapering form was sold at Sotheby's, New York 31 May-1 June, 1994, lot 271.