YUAN-MING DYNASTY (1279-1644)

Celadon vases of this archaic form were made in the Longquan and guan kilns from as early as the Southern Song dynasty and continued throughout the Ming dynasty. Fragments of zun of similar form were recovered from the Laohudong kiln site, Hangzhou. A closely related Longquan celadon example dated to the Southern Song period, from the collection of Tokyo National Museum, was included in the exhibition Longquan Ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved of the Japanese, Yamaguchi, 2012, pl. 29; another related Yuan example with similar design of flanges, in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou, is illustrated in Celadon from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 2014, pl. 150, p. 177. Compare also to two Yuan examples of similar shape with varied designs of flanges, from the collection of Sir Percival David, London, illustrated in Stacey Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997, p. 25, no. 221 and ibid., p. 29, no. 234. Another Longquan celadon zun vase, with similar crenelated flanges but of a slightly different shape, dated to the Ming dynasty, is in the collection of Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi and illustrated in Sensei Bansei to Ryusenyo no Seiji [Bansei, Sensei and Celadon of Longquan Wares], Izumi, 1996, no. 116.

Refer also to the Southern Song example of a guan zun vase with four divided low flanges, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, pl.2, p. 48.