A Longquan celadon-glazed reliquary and attendant figures

Probably Early Ming Dynasty

Probably Early Ming Dynasty
The reliquary modelled as a stylised house with a two-tiered roof flanked with decorative mouldings, a front door and a terrace fence, all covered in a thick green glaze, together with a set of four attendant figures similarly glazed. The reliquary: 33cm (13in) high (5).

Provenance: collected in the early 20th century in China, and thence by descent

Compare the present lot with a Longquan celadon-glazed reliquary, dated Southern Song Dynasty, but without any figures, sold as part of the Falk Collection at Christie's, 16 October 2001, lot 115. Also see another version, but without steps or balustrade, also dated to the 12th-13th century, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and illustrated in M. Traeger, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, p. 181, no. 252.