A fine and rare Longquan celadon-glazed 'funerary' jar and cover

Southern Song Dynasty

Footnotes

南宋 龍泉青釉貼塑攀虎紋蓋瓶

Provenance: an important European private collection, acquired before 1952, and thence by descent

來源：重要歐洲私人珍藏，購自1952年前，並由後人保存迄今

The European collector (1880-1952) was an entrepreneur with early links to Russia and Japan. From 1911-1917 he lived in St. Petersburg where he owned a company selling high-quality stainless steel, in addition to learning the Russian language.

Although he first visited Japan in 1907, it was in 1920 that he returned home to set up a sales operation similar to that in St. Petersburg which had been halted three years earlier due to the political upheaval. He spent several years in Osaka and Kobe, when his interest in Japanese works of art commenced. Once again he realised the benefit of learning the language in order to facilitate the acquiring of works of art. The result was a fine collection of woodblock prints, netsuke, inro, porcelain (in particular Kakiemon vases), swords, lacquer and silver.

It was in the 1930s, when back in Japan, that he extended his collection to include Chinese art. Fine porcelain, Tang silver, and early bronzes were his particular interests, and he studied these subjects both in books and through his discussions with his friend Kusaka Shogado, who was a leading dealer based in Kyoto, and from whom he made many purchases. He visited Japan for the last time in 1938, when he bought numerous items for his collection.

Longquan celadon-glazed 'funerary' jars such as the present lot, would have originally been made in pairs: one bearing the 'Green Dragon of the East' and the other the 'White Tiger of the West'. All the animals and beasts on the jars represented the cardinal directions, including the bird finial which represented the 'Red Bird of the South'. A pair in the Sir Percival David Collection, and now in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration, London, 2003, pl.35. These jars would have been filled with offerings of grain and placed in the tomb at the cardinal directions.

For other related examples of Longquan celadon-glazed 'funerary' jars and covers with dragons and tigers, see also R.Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pl.85 and p.95. Various other examples are illustrated in Longquan yao qingci, Taipei, 1998, pp.132-138; and Zhongguo Longquan qingci, Hangzhou, 1998, pl.76.

Compare also with a Longquan celadon-glazed 'funerary' jar and cover, Southern Song dynasty, sold at Sotheby's London on 14 May 2008, lot 312.