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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, see M. Medley, Metalwork and Chinese Ceramics, London, 1972, p. 45, pl.15 a and b.
A Longquan bowl of very similar shape, but subtly carved with vertical petals on the exterior, is illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 163, no. 134. A number of Longquan bowls of this form, also carved with petals on the exterior, were excavated from the wreck of a merchant ship that foundered off the coast of Korea in AD 1323 on its way to Japan. See Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, nos. 107-9.
This bowl is particularly elegant, as the plain, uncarved sides show the sea-green color of the glaze off to best advantage.
A Longquan bowl of very similar shape, but subtly carved with vertical petals on the exterior, is illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 163, no. 134. A number of Longquan bowls of this form, also carved with petals on the exterior, were excavated from the wreck of a merchant ship that foundered off the coast of Korea in AD 1323 on its way to Japan. See Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, nos. 107-9.
This bowl is particularly elegant, as the plain, uncarved sides show the sea-green color of the glaze off to best advantage.