A rare Longquan celadon 'bamboo-neck' vase, Southern Song dynasty | 南宋 龍泉青釉弦紋盤口瓶

Passed down in Japan since medieval times.

Collection of Baron Masuda Takashi (1848-1938, tea-master name Masuda Donno), according to the box label and the furoshiki cloth.

自中世紀於日本傳世

益田孝 男爵（1848-1938年，自號益田鈍翁）收藏（據盒上及包袱巾的「碧雲台」標籤）

Exquisitely potted and glazed overall in an attractive luminous bluish-celadon glaze, this vase represents one of the masterpieces of the Longquan kilns produced during the Southern Song period. Its elegant silhouette, with a compressed globular body surmounted by a tall, slender neck and further accentuated by the raised ribs simulating bamboo, displays the aesthetic that prevailed at its time. The drastic political shift during the early Song dynasty from a society ruled by the hereditary aristocracy to one governed by a central bureaucracy of highly educated scholar-officials had a major impact on the arts of the period. Furthermore, the resulting rise of Neo-Confucian ideals led to an increased interest in antiquities and a revival of archaic jade and bronze forms that Song potters adapted into their repertoire. This vase is a fine example of this trend as the well-potted body is covered in a thick glaze reminiscent of luminous jade, while its unassuming form finds its origins in bronze hu vases of the Han dynasty, such as an example cast with raised ribs, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 2007.133). Such superb examples follow the fabled guan (official) wares made in Hangzhou, suggesting that the finest Longquan pieces may have been produced as tribute wares.

A related Longquan vase of similar form and comparable presence, attributed to the Song dynasty, is preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 103. See also an example excavated at a kiln site in the Longquan area, published in Longquan qingqi yanjiu [Research on Longquan celadon], Beijing, 1989, pl. 41, fig. 1; and a smaller example sold in our London rooms, 11th May 2016, lot 34.

本品造形典雅秀麗，古樸大方，釉色柔和淡雅，瑩潤如玉，當屬南宋至臻尚品。瓶身修長，飾凸起弦紋，其造型取自官窰形制，襲古青銅典例，加以變通而成。見有存世漢壺，藏於紐約大都會藝術博物館，編號2007.133。

北京故宮博物院藏一宋代類例，器形相若，載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．兩宋瓷器（下）》，香港，1996年，圖版103。再有一例，龍泉窰出土，載於《龍泉青瓷研究》，北京，1989年，圖版41，圖1；以及一尺寸較小例，售於倫敦蘇富比2016年5月11日，編號34。