A massive 'Longquan' celadon-glazed charger, Early Ming dynasty

Acquired by Sir James Stewart Lockhart (1858-1937) in Guangzhou, circa 1879/1880, and thence by descent to his daughter, Mary Stewart Lockhart (1894-1985).

Gifted by the above to George Watson's College, Edinburgh, 1967.

An Ardent Collector, City Art Center, Edinburgh, 1982, cat. no. 80.

National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003-2025 (on loan).

Sir James Stewart Lockhart, Notebook, 1921, p. 375.

Shiona Airlie, Thistle and Bamboo, The Life and Times of Sir James Stewart Lockhart, Hong Kong, 2010, p. 21.

Striking for its impressive size, this massive Longquan celadon-glazed charger is covered with a celadon glaze accentuated by the absence of surface decoration. Large chargers of this type were produced in the Longquan kilns during the 14th century, their imposing scale making them distinctive creations of early Ming celadons.

Examples of this size are rare. A related dish preserved in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, is illustrated in Selected Masterpieces from the Idemitsu Collection, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1986–91, cat. no. 135. Compare also another example sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2010, lot 1313. Further examples of slightly smaller size include one in the Mayuyama Collection, Tokyo, published in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, cat. no. 515, later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th April 2015, lot 3632; and another sold in our New York rooms, 21st and 22nd September 2005, lot 62.

This impressive charger was part of the collection of Sir James Stewart Lockhart (1858–1937), the distinguished scholar, colonial administrator and noted connoisseur of Chinese art. On the eve of his retirement from China in 1921, Stewart Lockhart meticulously catalogued his possessions before shipping them back to the United Kingdom, and this dish was no exception: it was recorded in his notebook, packed and insured for the sum of £250 (Sir James Stewart Lockhart, Notebook, 1921, p. 375, NSL Acc. 12695/26c). As recalled by his family and later recounted by Shiona Airlie, one of the finest porcelains he ever acquired was a monumental celadon dish purchased in Guangzhou as a young cadet, from a Cantonese family who had fallen on hard times. Measuring sixty-eight centimetres across and weighing nearly sixty pounds, the dish was admired for the simplicity of its flawless form and the perfection of its luminous glaze. Far from being a fortuitous find, this early acquisition foreshadowed the refinement of Lockhart’s taste and his lifelong dedication to collecting objects of historical importance and aesthetic distinction.