SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)

The elegant shape of this dish, with the flat, everted, octagonal rim, was likely based on Song-dynasty silver and gold prototypes. It is very rare to find a Longquan celadon dish of this shape and very few are published. The present example is distinguished by its lustrous glaze with a dynamic, icy crackle. A similar dish (15.87 cm.) with a finely crackled glaze can be found in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, Avery Brundage Collection, illustrated by M. Tregear in Song Ceramics, New York, 1982, p.138, no. 183. A dish of this shape, accompanied by a small octagonal bowl, from the Szekeres Collection, is illustrated by J.J. Lally & Co. in Chinese Art, The Szekeres Collection, New York, 2019, no. 2 where it is noted that a gold octagonal dish and matching bowl from the tomb of the Southern Song official Zhu Xiyan (1135-1200) and his wife is illustrated in by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Zhong king ji sheng: Nan Song feng wu guanzhi (Achievements of Southern Song Dynasty), Beijing, 2015, p. 16, pl. 10. Another parcel-gilt silver example with matching bowl is illustrated in the same publication, p. 27, pl. 52.