A 'LONGQUAN' CELADON MEIPING NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY

the high shouldered body surmounted by a short cylindrical neck and a flat everted rim, carved around the body with a band of peony scrolls above five bands of overlapping petal leaves diminishing in size as they reach the foot, covered overall in an olive-green glaze stopping at the foot to reveal the buff body

Chugoku meito ten: Chugoku toji 2000-nen no seika [Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics], Tokyo, 1992, no. 46.

There is fritting around the rim, otherwise the vase is in overall 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This rare meiping vase belongs to early Longquan wares of the Northern Song period, identifiable by the pale glaze similar to Yue ware and the freely carved friezes filling the surface. Such designs were further enlivened with parallel combed lines, as seen on the present vase; in comparison the molded or carved decorations of Southern Song Longquan wares typically rose in subtle relief.

A slightly larger meiping of this form, carved with a similar design of sketchy lotus scrolls and bordered by leaves on a hatched ground at the shoulder and a band of long petals around the foot, in the Oxford Museum of Eastern Art, Oxford, is illustrated in Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 37g, together with a taller example with an elongated body and less pronounced everted rim, pl. 37h, from the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; and another slightly smaller vase, in the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, was included in the exhibition Longquan Ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved of the Japanese, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, 2012, cat. no. 8. Compare also a meiping of this type, from the collection of Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, published in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, p. 198, no. 179, which is decorated with a peony scroll with smaller blooms arranged in three ranks; sold in our London rooms, 5th November 1996, lot 725; and another sold in these rooms, from the Dexingshuwu collection, 18th March 2008, lot 86.

An early Longquan vase of this type, but with a less distinctive rim and carved with a denser scroll of smaller flowers, in the Chang Foundation, is included in James Spencer, Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pl. 59.

For a prototype to this type of vase, but with slightly angled shoulders and carved with a peony scroll design, attributed to the Five Dynasties periods (907-960) illustrated in Longquan qingci, Beijing, 1966, pl. 2.