YUAN-MING DYNASTY (1279-1644)

Fujioka Ryoichi (1909-1991) was a prominent Japanese scholar of Chinese ceramics. He worked for the Kyoto National Museum and the Nara National Museum, and participated in compilation of several seminal works on Chinese ceramics including the Toji Taikei, Heibonsha, 1972-1978.

The unusual shape of this rare stem cup is similar to that of a larger (13.3 cm.) Longquan celadon stem cup with molded panels left in the biscuit, illustrated in Splendour of Ancient Chinese Art: Selections from the Collections of T. T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art Worldwide, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 38, where it is dated Yuan.

Guan-type wares produced at the Longquan kilns show considerable variation. Some examples have dark, slate-grey bodies and crackled, greyish-blue glaze while others imitate the cracked glaze and form of Guan but have the light grey stoneware bodies typical of standard Longquan ware. The present stem cup, with its golden-brown glaze, is of a type known as beishoku (‘golden rice grain color’) in Japanese. A rare beishoku Guanyao vase from the Tsuneichi Inoue Collection, dated to the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), was sold at Sotheby’s, London, 13 May 2015, lot 32.