18TH-19TH CENTURY

This unusual shape appears to be based on Song dynasty Longquan celadon prototypes with lug handles rather than beast-form handles, such as the example from the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, p. 159, no. 277. The Longquan celadon vases are themselves based on early bronze hu with lug handles and narrow flanges dividing the bands of decoration, which on the present vase are represented by the molded bands on the neck. For a Shang-dynasty bronze example, see the hu in the British Museum, illustrated by W. Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 5.