Vase with dish-shaped mouth

Vases of this type were the re-creation of a shape originally produced at the Song imperial shop and guan celadon kilns. With a dish-shaped mouth and long, cylindrical neck over a compact body on a footring, the elegant shape and glaze of this type of vessel fascinated potters, who continuously copied the form for centuries until the last imperial shop of the Qing dynasty. This piece is among the guan imitations made at the longquan kilns that have led connoisseurs to misattribute them to the Song dynasty. (National Palace Mus. 1989: 21-3, 25-7). Southern Song longquan vases of this type, recognized by their glaze and body, satisfied the demands of both domestic and overseas markets, as is attested to by recent finds at sites as far away from Zhejiang as Sichuan (WW 1994.4: 20).