Vase or bottle

Celadon vase–Lung-ch’uan type: octagonal shape with spreading foot, swelling body and short tapering neck.
Body: fine-grained, vitreous, almost white porcelain; fired reddish brown at the footrim.
Glaze: thick, opaque gray-green celadon with even all-over crackle, mostly stained brown.
Decoration: 24 biscuit panels, floral patterns. Eight Daoist Immortals.

Historical period(s)
Yuan dynasty, 14th century
Medium
Stoneware with celadon glaze and reserved bisque panels
Style
Longquan ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 27.5 × 17.5 cm (10 13/16 × 6 7/8 in)
Geography
China, Zhejiang province, Longquan
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1946.25
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Vase or bottle

Keywords
China, Daoism, Eight Immortals, flower, green glaze, Longquan ware, stoneware, Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368)
Provenance

To 1946
J. Post, New York. [1]

From 1946
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from J. Post, New York. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

J. Post

Description

Celadon vase--Lung-ch'uan type: octagonal shape with spreading foot, swelling body and short tapering neck.
Body: fine-grained, vitreous, almost white porcelain; fired reddish brown at the footrim.
Glaze: thick, opaque gray-green celadon with even all-over crackle, mostly stained brown.
Decoration: 24 biscuit panels, floral patterns. Eight Daoist Immortals.

Label

Crackled green glaze frames the decorative panels on this vase, which was formed in a multiple-part press mold. The panels, representing eight Daoist immortals and flowers, were coated with wax before glazing to prevent the glaze from adhering. Their unglazed surfaces, like the foot rim, turned rust brown when the kiln cooled and the iron in the clay body reoxidized.

Published References
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 77.
  • Louise Allison Cort, Jan Stuart, Laurence Chi-Sing Tam. Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain : Ceramics from Collectors in the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong. Exh. cat. Washington and Hong Kong, 1993. p. 45, fig. 3.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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