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Lot Essay
The motif of a mythical xiniu reclined in a grove gazing up towards a crescent moon, also referred to as xiniu wangyue, can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty, although it is most commonly associated with the Jin and Yuan periods. Given the motif’s origination and popularity in the North, its presence on a Southern Longquan ware is unusual. According to legend, the xiniu’s affinity for the moon results in the unique shape of its horn which, when cut, contains white marks shaped like crescents and stars.
A nearly identical dish from the Avery Brundage Collection, now in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, was illustrated in He Li’s Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, p. 246, no. 509, and another is featured in Y. Mino and K. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis, 1986, pp. 210-11, fig. 86. See also the comparable piece sold at Sotheby’s London, 6 November 2013, lot 252.
A nearly identical dish from the Avery Brundage Collection, now in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, was illustrated in He Li’s Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, p. 246, no. 509, and another is featured in Y. Mino and K. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis, 1986, pp. 210-11, fig. 86. See also the comparable piece sold at Sotheby’s London, 6 November 2013, lot 252.