A Longquan celadon pomegranate jar, zhiliuzun, Early Ming dynasty | 明初 龍泉青釉纏枝牡丹紋石榴尊

Sotheby's London, 7th June 1994, lot 323.

Tai Sing Fine Antiques Ltd, Hong Kong, 21st April 1995.

Collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

Sturdily potted with a grand curvaceous body and gently flaring everted lip, the present vase represents one of the rarest and most coveted designs to have emerged from the Longquan kilns of Zhejiang. Featuring a grand scrolling peony bloom viewed from four angles, the present jar appears to be exceedingly rare, if not unique, in its design. 

Highlighting the creative freedom of the early Ming potters in echoing the narrative movement of a handscroll, this rare peony design was first embraced in the Yuan dynasty and, by the Xuande reign (1426-1435) was soon to be abandoned in place of often more formulaic patternwork. Compare a related Yuan jar prominently featuring this design in underglaze blue, sold in these rooms, 29th October 2024, lot 613. Unlike most Longquan vessels decorated primarily with either moulded or carved designs, shiliuzun (‘pomegranate jars’) of this type almost always feature a combination of both techniques, with sprig-moulded elements applied to the surface and refined with freeform carving; yet further testament to the commensurate skill of their creators.

To date, fewer than ten celadon shiliuzun of any design appear to survive. Compare a very similar vase of related design featuring a classic scroll around the neck from the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Longquan Ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved of the Japanese, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto, 2012, cat. no. 98; another featuring a differing variation of the peony design, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st May 2017, lot 3009; a third very similar example in the Palace Museum, Beijing with scrolling chrysanthema in place of lotuses, said to be a piece made for the palace of the Hongwu Emperor, included in Longquan of the World: Longquan Celadon and Globalization, vol. II, Beijing, 2012, cat. no. 109, alongside a smaller unadorned example attributed to the Yongle period, cat. no. 108; a fifth example with scrolling chrysanthema gifted to a Japanese collector by the chief priest of Nishi Honganji Temple in 1877, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 4240; and two more related examples featuring floral sprays separated by rectangular cartouches, illustrated respectively in Toji Taikei [Ceramic great series], vol. 36: Seiji [Celadon], Tokyo, 1978, pl. 88 and Ye Yingting, ed., Zhongguo gutaoci longquan yao [Chinese ancient ceramics. Longquan Kiln], Beijing, 2013, pl. 298.

來源

倫敦蘇富比1994年6月7日，編號323

大成古玩，1995年4月21日

徐氏藝術館收藏，香港

明初龍泉窰青釉石榴尊傳世品寥若晨星，飾纏枝牡丹紋者更為珍罕。

明初龍泉窰是景德鎮以外較大的窰場，生產旺盛，裝飾技法承元朝遺風，以刻、劃花為主。如本器胎體厚重，造型粗曠壯碩，施釉肥厚沉著，別具時代特色。

同紋飾的石榴尊未見著錄，北京故宮博物院藏一件劃纏枝菊花紋石榴尊，並認為是明洪武龍泉窰燒製的宮廷用瓷，見《天下龍泉：龍泉青瓷與全球化》，卷2：國家公器，北京，2019年，編號109。