Provenance:

Private Collection Montreal, acquired in Cape Cod during the 1970’s.

Note:

Large Longquan celadon chargers like the current example were made during the Ming Yongle reign (1403-1424) when the Longquan kilns in Zhejiang were producing ceramics under direct orders for the Imperial court.

During the early 15th century, the kilns producing Longquan celadon wares in Zhejiang and blue and white porcelain wares at Jingdezhen, created some of the finest ceramics to accommodate the varied tastes of Mongolian patrons. These exotic designs were well received amongst the Mongols who resided in China at that time, and also those gifted Chinese ceramics in diplomatic trade. One of the more popular shapes was the large charger with bracket-lobed rims such as the present example.

Large Longquan chargers of this size (more than 22 inches in diameter) and thickness are extremely rare because they did not often survive the firing process. Typical chargers are 20 inches or less. Unsuccessfully fired chargers of this form and size, have been excavated throughout the Longquan kilns. A similar but larger Yongle Longquan charger from The Meiyintang Collection was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, October 5, 2011, lot 7. Another charger of this size is in the National Museum of China, Beijing, and is published in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section], Mingdai[Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 112.