Pair of Longquan Celadon Pale Blue-Green Glazed Straw Hat Tea Bowls, Southern Song Dynasty, 12th-13th Century Matched Set Longquan Yao Pale Celadon Conical Tea Cups

拍品描述

Dimensions: 16.5 cm (6.50 in) in diameter, 7 cm (2.76 in) in height, a pair of 12th-13th century Southern Song Dynasty Longquan celadon-glazed straw hat bowls. Condition and Provenance: The two conical bowls are proportionally identical, with wide, flared mouths, sloping, narrowing walls, and fine, compact foot rims, exhibiting a smooth and elegant overall shape. Both the interior and exterior are covered with a thick, pale celadon glaze, rich and delicate in texture, with a uniform color and soft luster. Each bowl features a small raised bead in the center, a classic structural feature of Song Dynasty tea sets. The glaze is slightly thinner at the rim, revealing a faint milky-white earthenware edge, while the unglazed foot rim displays a faint kiln patina, indicating a fine and dense body. Overall, the condition is excellent. One bowl has a fine, shallow crack on the interior wall, not completely penetrating, and there are no signs of chips, glaze loss, repairs, or acid washing. The glaze retains natural light-colored earth marks. This set of tea bowls is remarkably well-preserved and is an original pair, extremely rare among Longquan celadon. Originally sold by an antique gallery in Hong Kong, the pair entered the collection of a private Song Dynasty celadon collector in New York in 2026. Hong Kong, New York, Vancouver, and London were major global trading centers for Song Dynasty porcelain. Description: This pair of Southern Song Dynasty Longquan pale blue straw hat bowls is a classic literati tea set produced during the heyday of the Longquan kilns. At that time, the practice of using a whisk to drink tea was prevalent in Song Dynasty high society, and the wide, conical straw hat bowls allowed scholars to observe the foam in the tea, making them ideal for refined tea ceremonies. The set is made from a mixture of kaolin clay, resulting in a thin yet sturdy body. It is glazed with multiple layers of lime-alkali pale blue glaze, creating a thick, jade-like glaze with a soft, pale green hue—the most prized glaze color from the Longquan imperial kilns. The design is entirely based on simple, flowing curves, devoid of any ornamentation, fully embodying the refined and understated aesthetics of Song Dynasty literati. The raised bead in the center served as a tea container, a thoughtful and practical design unique to Song Dynasty tea sets. Extant pairs of Southern Song Dynasty Longquan celadon straw hat bowls are extremely rare; most are single pieces, thus pairs are significantly more valuable to collectors. This pair of straw hat bowls perfectly retains the original patina from their excavation and collection, without any modern polishing or glaze restoration. Their glaze color, clay quality, foot rust, and shape are all perfectly consistent with the characteristics of Southern Song Dynasty Longquan ware. As a functional display masterpiece, these two bowls possess comprehensive research value, encompassing tea culture, ancient ceramic firing techniques, and Song Dynasty classical aesthetics, and hold continuous long-term asset appreciation potential for antique porcelain collectors worldwide.

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