Longquan Celadon

Longquan celadon pomegranate-shaped Zun (a wine vessel) with incised flowers pattern from the Ming Dynasty

Housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing, this piece has an interlocking branch pattern on the opening area and a circle of tiny dots around the mouth. There is a protruding ring around the neck of the vessel, above the ring there is an interlocking flower pattern and under the ring is an interlocking clouds pattern. The Zun features vivid incised designs, jade-like surface, and elegant style, making it a treasure of Ming Dynasty Longquan celadon.

The Longquan celadon features multiple layers of glaze, which means the potters re-glaze the ware body for at least over 10 rounds, to make the glaze thick, which is even thicker than that of the body to create the jade-like gloss. Sometimes, the potters intentionally make some relief ridges on the body, so the glaze on the ridges will be thinner, forming a blue-vein-like line as a decoration. Also the bottom of the Longquan celadon appears the color of reddish brown due to the secondary oxidation in the firing process.