AN EXCEPTIONAL AND LARGE IMPERIAL LONGQUAN CELADON MEIPING AND COVER MING DYNASTY, HONGWU / YONGLE PERIOD

superbly potted with broad rounded shoulders elegantly rising at a flared angle from the slightly splayed base and sweeping to a short neck, the voluptuous body thickly applied overall with an unctuous sea-green glaze save for the unglazed footring burnt brownish-orange during the firing, the circular cover similarly glazed and modelled with a stepped top and surmounted by a bud-form finial

The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.
Christie's Hong Kong, 1st December 2010, lot 3104.

There is a 0.4 cm shallow scale chip to the rim of the vase, with 1.8 cm horizontal line crack to the rim, and extending 0.4 cm inside. Otherwise good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

With its dynamic swelling form and near-flawless glaze, this vase belongs to a small group of Longquan celadon wares made specifically for the Imperial court during the early Ming period. Deceptively simple in form and design, it is an exquisite example of Longquan celadon. It embodies the technical perfection achieved by the Longquan craftsmen as such undecorated vessels required the highest level of skill and precision in every stage of their production. Markedly top-heavy with a relatively narrow waisted foot, this vase is a result of careful calculation: the exact proportions and firing temperature had to be achieved in order to prevent sagging or collapsing. The slightest irregularity in the clay, potting, glaze or firing would result in the destruction of the piece.

Meiping of this type with their original covers are extremely rare; see a slightly smaller vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Green. Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 64, together with one without its cover, cat. no. 65; and another, but of less dramatic form, in the Gotoh Museum, Kaminoge, illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 230. Further vases of this form and size, but lacking their cover, include one, from the Yokogawa collection and now in the Tokyo National Museum, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 486; and two sold in our London rooms, one 20th May 1986, lot 2, the other, 10th November 2004, lot 561. Kiln wasters of many related vases and matching covers have been excavated from the imperial Longquan kilns at Chuzhou, Zhejiang province; see Ye Yingting and Hua Yunong, Faxian: Da Ming Chuzhou Longquan quanyao [Discover: Imperial ware of the great Ming dynasty from Longquan in Chuzhou], Hangzhou, 2005, pp 38-101.

The form of this vase is an exaggerated version of the characteristic meiping of the Longquan kilns of the early Ming period and appears to derive from similar large blue and white prototypes with related covers from the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen; compare six meiping, decorated with various banded designs, excavated from the Yuan dynasty hoard at Gao’an country, illustrated in The Porcelain from the Cellar of the Yuan Dynasty in Gao’an, Shanghai, 2005, pp 52-63. Longquan vases of this type were also decorated with scenes closely related to motifs developed at the Jingdezhen kilns; for example see a covered meiping carved with bamboo and prunus, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics: Ming, vol. II, Shanghai, 199, pl. 189. Such similarities support the notion that the court in Beijing commissioned and sent designs to Longquan to be recreated for imperial use. Official documents record that the Longquan kilns were producing wares for the court until at least the Chenghua reign (1465-87).