A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed tripod censer, Southern Song dynasty | 南宋 龍泉窰粉青釉三足爐

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 21st-22nd May 1985, lot 76.

Muwentang Collection.

Sotheby's London, 12th November 2003, lot 90.

Asian Private Collection.

Christie's Hong Kong, 4th October 2016, lot 119.

香港蘇富比1985年5月21至22日，編號76

沐文堂收藏

倫敦蘇富比2003年11月12日，編號90

亞洲私人收藏

香港佳士得2016年10月4日，編號119

The delicate celadon glaze and clear profile of this censer demonstrates the level of artistic and technical refinement achieved at the Longquan kilns during the Southern Song dynasty. Distributed in southern Zhejiang province, these kilns had been producing fine celadon wares in the preceding Northern Song period, although their popularity peaked after the move of the Song capital to Hangzhou. The support of the newly-established Southern Song court and the kilns' ability to produce very fine wares gave an unprecedented boost to the Longquan kilns. Both the court and scholar-officials that settled in Hangzhou favored wares with seemingly modest forms covered in mesmerizing glazes with a depth of color and tactility that resembled treasured jade. To recreate the jade-like appearance, craftsmen began replacing the traditional lime glaze used for making the celadon tone, with a lime-alkali glaze, which resulted in higher viscosity and softer gloss. The glaze was applied in multiple layers, thus appearing thick and lustrous.

Longquan craftsmen were quick at adapting to the demands of the Southern Song dynasty, whose aesthetic ideals were well-rooted in Neo-Confucian philosophy. Neo-Confucianism gave rise to a centralized bureaucracy governed by scholar-officials selected through civil service examinations. A class of highly educated government officials, who displayed an increasing interest in China's Bronze Age, thus emerged. This led to a revival of antiquarianism and the study of antiques and history, which were considered a guiding principle in the pursuit of virtue. Potters at manufactories in southern China adopted these principles and introduced archaic forms into their repertoire. The form of the present censer, for example, was inspired by archaic bronze li, food vessels with tri-lobed bodies supported on three legs.

Longquan censers of this form are held in important museums and private collections worldwide: two censers in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1999, pls 121 and 122; and one in the Tokyo National Museum, is published in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 97. For auctioned examples, see one from the collection of Tokiwayama Bunko Foundation, Tokyo, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October 2020, lot 100.