SONG-YUAN DYNASTY (960-1368)

This incense burner with its beautiful soft blue-green glaze is of a form that appears at the Longquan kilns of Zhejiang province in the 13th century during the Southern Song dynasty and continued to find favour into the early Yuan dynasty. A similar 13th century vessel decorated with bands of applied floral bosses at the mouth and foot, and with a simple ring in relief on either side, is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation, London and illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Revised edition 1997, p. 34, no. 207). A 13th century Yuan dynasty vessel of the same form in the collection of the Longquan Museum is similarly decorated to the David Foundation example except that, like the current censer, it has sprig-moulded mask handles (illustrated in Longquan yao qing ci, Taipei, 1998, p. 207, no. 184).
Another censer of this shape and form from the collections of C.E. Russell and Brodie & Enid Lodge, no. C125, was included in the Exhibition of Celadon Wares, The Oriental Ceramic Society, 20 October - 20 December 1947, no. 28 and offered at Christie's London, 8 November 2011, lot 334.