A LARGE LONGQUAN CELADON VESSEL, FANG LEI, MING DYNASTY China, 1368-1644. Sturdily potted in the form of an archaic bronze wine vessel and covered overall by an unctuous sea-green glaze with intentional crackling throughout. Provenance: The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art deaccession. Minuscule matching inventory numbers "88.61.8" painted to lid and base. Old paper labels reading "WARE IN TAOT'IEH MOTIF. LATE MING DYNASTY, 1600 AD". The museum is located at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its collection includes more than 35,000 works of art and was designed by architect I.M. Pei. Established in 1953, it is named after its primary benefactor, Herbert Fisk Johnson, head of S.C. Johnson & Sons. Condition: Superb condition with minor wear and two small chips to inner lip, not visible from the outside. Extremely rare in this state of preservation! Weight: 5.9 kg Dimensions: 42.8 cm Celadon vessels of archaic form were made in the Longquan and Guan kilns from as early as the Southern Song dynasty and continued throughout the Ming dynasty. For example, fragments of such vessels were recovered from the Laohudong kiln site, Hangzhou. Each side of the tapering vessel is divided into horizontal registers. The neck and lid with molded pairs of confronting birds in high relief, above a band at the shoulder with pairs of sun whorls flanking taotie mask on the two main sides and bovine-head ring handles on the narrow sides. The lower register with a pair of confronting birds centered by a flattened bovine-head motif. One main side with the typical loop handle for wine-pouring, bearing a carved lingzhi motif. All supported on a tall flared foot, the sides with their characteristic flanges. The domed pitched-roof cover is surmounted by a rectangular handle. Literature comparison: A Longquan celadon example of a Zun dated to the Southern Song period, from the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, was included in the exhibition "Longquan Ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved of the Japanese", Yamaguchi, 2012, pl. 29. For comparison with a bronze Fang Lei from the Zhou Dynasty see Sotheby's New York, Chinese Works of Art, 21 September 2005, lot 146. Auction result comparison: For another archaistic Longquan vessel from the Yuan-Ming period, Zun, see Christies Hong Kong, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, lot 108, sold for HKD $687,500. 一件大型龍泉窯青瓷方瓶，明代 中國，1368-1644。仿古酒器，全體施潤澤的青綠開片釉。 來源：Herbert F. Johnson 美術館館藏解體，底部可見原館藏收藏編號 "88.61.8"及"WARE IN TAOT'IEH MOTIF. LATE Ming Dynasty, 1600 AD" 。美術館坐落於紐約Cornell University 大學，收藏了35,000 多件藝術品，美術館為設計大師貝聿銘設計。建立於1953年，以Herbert Fisk Johnson名字命名，他曾是S.C. Johnson & Sons的總裁。 品相：品相良好，輕微磨損，内邊沿兩道小嗑裂，外部不可見。極罕見！ 重量：5.9 公斤 尺寸：42.8 厘米