An extremely rare 'Longquanwu' white-glazed ewer and cover, Liao dynasty

Sotheby's London, 9th November 2005, lot 219.

Uncovered at Mentougou village in western Beijing in 1983, the Longquanwu kilns appear to have been one of the most accomplished and sophisticated producers of sancai and white wares during the Liao (907–1125) and Jin (1115–1234) dynasties. With bold geometric designs often embellished with crisp symmetrical molding and enrobed in an unctuous cream-white glaze, Longquanwu wares bear a close chemical and stylistic resemblance to neighboring Ding wares. Indeed, much like Ding wares in the Song and Jin period, Longquanwu pieces appear to have been produced directly for imperial patrons in the Liao court and have been uncovered from many royal Liao contexts. Compare a ewer and cover of very closely related molded design excavated from the Longquanwu site in Beijing Longquanwu yao fajue baogao / Excavations of the Longquanwu Kiln-Site in Beijing, Beijing, 2002, col. pl. 5:1; alongside two other fragmentary ewers of related form, pl. 98. 

Compare also a covered ewer of related layered leaf design uncovered in 1971 from the Liao tombs of Shuiquan, Beipiao, Liaoning, illustated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [The complete works of Chinese ceramics], vol. 7: Song (shang), Shanghai, 2000. pl. 41; and a covered jar with similar layers of high-relief veined leaves attributed to the Ding kilns, preserved in the Percival David Collection at the British Museum, London (accession no. PDF.193), illustrated in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ting and Allied Wares, London, 1980, cat. no. 6.