A LONGQUAN CELADON OPENWORK VASE, YUHUCHUNPING YUAN DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY

of compressed pear-shape form and oval section, rising from a splayed foot to a flared quatrefoil rim, set with two dragon-head loop handles suspending loose rings, the body carved in openwork revealing a narrow tubular body inside, with a fu ('happiness') and a shou ('long life') character on either side, each enclosed in a barbed medallion and flanked by the Flowers of the Four Seasons, with peony and camellia emerging from rockwork, and chrysanthemum and pomegranate rising from waves, the foot encircled by a key-fret border repeated at the base of the neck below a collar of upright plantain leaves, all richly applied with a vivid yellowish-green glaze thinning to white on the carved areas, the domed base glazed and the unglazed footring fired to brick red 

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1605.

Part of the neck and the animal masks of the handles have been broken across along the luting line and restored. A section of the tubular body inside the vase is broken and missing. The unglazed footring has some chips and flakes, with the largest one measuring approx. 1.3 cm. The countersunk base has a short fine firing crack of 0.8 cm. The vase also has some fine body lines under the glaze and characteristic glaze gaps.
"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."

In the Yuan dynasty, potters in many ceramic manufactories aimed at adding interest to their monochrome products through complicated methods of forming and decorating. The present vase, with a double body and pierced outer walls is a piece that would have been highly demanding to produce. This openwork technique was in the Qianlong period (1736-95) revived on celadon-glazed porcelains.

Another vase of this design was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 20th March 2002, lot 121. Similar vases are much more common with the body carved but not pierced; compare a pair of vases in the Eumorfopoulos collection, published in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1925-8, vol. 2, pl. XLII, no. B159, and a single vase in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. 1, pl. A114.

This design continued well beyond the Yuan dynasty, but without the openwork. Two related vases, one excavated from the early Ming, the other the mid-Ming stratum of the Fengdongyan kiln site at Dayao, Longquan, are illustrated in Longquan Dayao Fengdongyan yaozhi chutu ciqi [Porcelains excavated from the Fengdongyan kiln site at Dayao, Longquan], Beijing, 2009, pls. 112 and 172.