YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)

Details

A VERY RARE LARGE CARVED AND MOULDED ‘DOUBLE-DRAGON’ LONGQUAN CELADON CHARGER
YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)
The charger is sturdily potted with shallow rounded sides rising from a short foot ring to an everted rim. The centre of the interior is sprig-moulded with two scaly four-clawed dragons contesting a flaming pearl, below a band of freely carved foliate scroll on the cavetto, while the exterior is carved and moulded with a band of upright petals. The dish is covered overall with an even translucent glaze of lake green tone with the exception of the foot ring.
16 5/8 in. (42.3 cm)

Provenance

Priestley and Ferraro, London, 1999

Exhibited

The Seattle Art Museum, 2009-2017

Brought to you by

Sibley Ngai

sngai@christies.com +852 2978 9955

Lot Essay

It is extremely rare to find a Longquan charger moulded with a pair of dragons, as most other examples are moulded with a single dragon or fish. For slightly smaller chargers moulded with a single dragon, compare to an example (36 cm.) in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. I, p. 256, no. 62, another (36.8 cm.) in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World’s Great Collection, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 132, and lot 3005 (35.7 cm.) in this sale. Compare also to a rare Longquan charger (37.3 cm.) moulded with two winged dragons with a plain cavetto in the Capital Museum, illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, p. 222, no. 204. Two chargers moulded with fish in the Topkapi Saray Museum are illustrated op. cit. pl. 64 (36 cm.) and pl. 65 (44 cm.).

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