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15 3/8 in. (39 cm.) diam.
Important Chinese Ceramics from a European Private Collection; Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 November 1997, lot 1393.
Longquan celadons were much admired both inside China and abroad during the Song and Yuan dynasties, but they were also very highly regarded in the early Ming period. Documentary, as well as recent archaeological evidence, has confirmed that they were made for the early Ming court, while fine early Ming celadons preserved in the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul and in the Ardebil Collection in the Iran Bastan in Tehran, also bear witness to the popularity of Longquan celadons at courts in the Near East. The enthusiastic appreciation of contemporary Japanese patrons is also evidenced by the fine examples preserved in Japanese collections today. Excavations at the Longquan Dayao kiln site have revealed sherds bearing official marks, and other excavations have emphasized that fine Longquan wares were also made at other kiln sites in the Ming dynasty. A slightly smaller bowl (32.5 cm. diam.) with simpler decoration than on the current bowl in the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum is illustrated in Longquan qingci, Taipei, 1998, p. 274, no. 260). A further bowl from the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, also of slightly smaller size (30.3 cm. diam.), was included in the exhibition Green Wares from Zhejiang in Hong Kong, 1993, no. 79. Similar bowls, dated to c. AD 1400, are in the collection of the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul. One slightly smaller than the current bowl (36 cm. diam.) is illustrated by J. Ayers and R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, Vol. I, Yuan and Ming Dynasty Celadon Wares, London, 1986, p. 359, no. 488, while a group of four slightly larger bowls (38-40 cm. diam.) are described on p. 295 of the same publication, one being illustrated as no. 222. Two further examples are in the collection of the British Museum, London. One of similar size to the current example is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 480, no. 16:47, while a slightly smaller bowl is illustrated in the same volume, no. 16:48. All these bowls have dense decoration with a distinctive decorative band around the exterior rim, like that on the current bowl, often bearing a lingzhi scroll. The interiors, like that of the current bowl, have a central floral medallion and a floral scroll around the interior walls. They all have an unglazed ring on the exterior base to allow firing on a cylindrical setter. All are evenly potted and bear generous, soft green, glazes. A slightly smaller bowl (32 cm. diam.) of this type is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Bilu - Mingdai Longquanyao qingci, Taipei, 2009, pp. 66-7, no. 26.