Yuan Dynasty, 14th c. China
Height: 14.5cm, Width: 17cm
A blue and white porcelain “Monk’s Cap” ewer with lid. This piece has a baluster form body with a long neck that ends in a stepped form based on Tibetan metalwork ritual objects. There is an outwardly flared handle from the shoulder to the cupped back of the mouth rim. The interior of the mouth is partially unglazed, so that the lid could be fired in place. The girth of the body is decorated with a band of scrolling lotus flowers and leaves in heaped and piled cobalt blue, and confined by double lines. Beneath is a band of overlapping ruyi lotus petals above the foot-rim and countersunk foot-well. There are four stylized characters (possibly representing Tibetan sacred syllables “Om” and “Hum” from the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” ) around the neck, and floral scrolls adorning the mouth-rim. Scrolling tendril designs adorn the handle and lid, with flower petals decorating the top of the knob.
Condition:
Excellent with only some surface scratching.
A ribbed Henan jar with wide base and curved sides that taper inward to its straight collar neck. The body is decorated with parallel raised white ribs against a black glaze. The two impressed strap handles connect the neck to the shoulder, below which there are raised white ribs forming elongated X motifs. The glaze stops well above the short, beveled foot-rim, revealing a buff stoneware body.
A piece of similar size and form is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Condition:
Several large chips repaired on the neck.
Provenance:
Ancient Chinese Antiques, Hong Kong, 1990
Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Seattle
Private New York Collection
Goryeo Dynasty, 11th – 12th c., Korea
Diameter: 15cm
A stoneware cup stand with a tall, flared petal-form base surmounted by a foliate plate-form rim with incised floral decoration in each section. The cup receptacle is a truncated dome with deeply incised lotus petals and a ridged rim. the interior of the receptacle is also decorated with an incised flower. The entire piece is covered with a sweet bluish-green celadon glaze of ideal tone.
Condition:
No structural damage.
Small glaze crawls where the receptacle meets the plate.
The plate section is somewhat warped.
Provenance:
John R. Menke Collection and thence by decent
Joseon Dynasty, 18th – 19th c., Korea
Height: 27.2 cm
A porcelaineous stoneware bottle vase with cupped mouth atop a long necked, beautifully formed baluster -shaped body. The piece sits on a straight foot that is is glazed on its underside, which bears remnants of an old collection sticker. The piece is covered with a translucent glaze with slightly pinkish blush in places.
Condition:
Chips to foot, hairline crack on mouth.
Provenance:
John R. Menke Collection and thence by decent
Goryeo Dynasty, 11th 12th c., AD Korea
Height: 6 cm Diameter: 8 cm
A finely potted cup which swells up from a narrow base to high shoulders and slightly inverted mouth rim. There is a delicately incised band of keyfret below the mouth. The piece is covered in a sweet blue-green translucent celadon glaze over all, including the shallow underfoot and foot rim, which has three white spur marks.
These cups were originally designed to fit in stands. A nearly identical example with its original stand can be found in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, accession number: 40.480a-b.
With an inscribed wooden box and Bunkacho export permit.
A stoneware ewer with bulbous body decorated with vertical ridges and sitting on a slightly splayed foot rim. There is a long, trumpet-form neck with slightly warped mouth rim. The elegantly elongated spout rises from the shoulder and is joined to the neck with a curled bridge. The handle is similarly attached and is decorated with incised cross-hatching. There is a crack about 1.5cm below the tip of the spout where it is reattached. Some spout tip restoration.
Similar example from the My Xa Kilns published in “Hidden Treasures – 2000 Years of Vietnamese Ceramics” Jochen May, 2000. no. 67.
Two others are published in Stevenson-Guy’s “Vietnamese Ceramics – As Separate Tradition” Avery Press, 1997. pl. 186-187.
Provenance:
Ken Baar Collection, LondonAlberts Langdon, Boston (1990’s)Private Collection, Massachusetts
A round pottery box with “sancai” three colored glaze of green, amber and white. Using wax resist methods, the surface is decorated with a spotted decoration on the lid and sides of the body. The lid is surmounted with a lotus bud knob, and the bottom is unglazed, revealing a light buff earthenware body. Lift off the lid, and a body with a domed interior is revealed, all glazed in green. This elegant form was likely intended as a box for makeup in a tomb setting.
Condition:
Some surface repair to lid and dome.
Chip repair (original material re-stuck) to lid and body on one side.
A round-bottomed pottery bowl with “sancai” mottled streaks on the interior in amber and green against wax-resist yellowish white. The interior bottom has three spur marks, where it was supported during firing. The exterior has a densely molded pattern of concentric circles and dots surrounding a central floral medallion on the bottom, in the style of Sasanian metalwork decoration.
A large porcelaineous stoneware plate with barbed rim. The interior is decorated with an underglaze cobalt blue depictions of three rocky islands with trees set in a sea with a moon in the sky above. There are highlights of original red, green and gold overglaze enamels, and a slight reddish wash over the center where other red highlights have washed out during sea burial. There is a narrow band of petals surrounding the center and a wider band of ruyi petals around the interior cavetto, also with original red and green highlights. A narrow band of stylized cloud motifs decorates the flattened rim below its beaded edge. The underside cavetto is decorated with a similar large band of ruyi petals, with a characteristic brown wash covering the underside of the rounded foot ring.
Condition:
No structural damage, but loss of overglaze sheen from water burial.
Loss to some of the overglaze enamels.
Provenance:
Ken Baar Collection, UK
Alberts Langdon, Boston
Stephen Kunian Collection, Boston
Le-So Dynasties, 15th – 16th c. AD, Vietnam
Diameter: 33.4 cm
A large round charger of porcelaineous stoneware with a cobalt blue decoration of a leaping deer amongst three clouds and spiral design. The cloud and spiral motifs are reinterpreted on a surrounding band with just clouds around the interior cavetto. a narrow band of repeating crossed sword designs decorates the flattened rim. The back side has a band of ruyi petals around the side, and characteristic brown wash in the underfoot well. The foot-rim is unglazed, revealing a pale stoneware body.
Condition:
Good condition and glaze sheen.
One original iron firing “pop” on the interior.
Some reddish burial accretion on surface.
Provenance:
Ken Baar Collection, UK
Alberts Langdon, Boston
Stephen Kunian Collection, Boston
A large melon-form stoneware ewer with lobed body and lotus leaf lid on a short neck. The shoulder is surmounted with a short stylized beast-head spout and a double strand style loop handle on the other. The body and lid are covered in a translucent, finely crackled olive green glaze. The flattened foot rim and under-foot are unglazed, revealing a light buff stoneware body.
Condition: Chips to edge of lid and several small glaze crawls on body.
Provenance:
Ken Baar Collection, UK
Alberts Langdon, Boston
Stephen Kunian Collection, Boston
CHINESE, VIETNAMESE and KOREAN CERAMICS From American Collections
September 12 – 19, 2025
Kindly call or email for an appointment
We are pleased to present an exhibition of recent acquisitions of Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean ceramics in conjunction with September Asia Week.
The exhibition centers around a group of Chinese and Vietnamese ceramics from a private Boston collection. One of the highlights is a small blue and white “Monk’s Cap Ewer” with its original lid, produced in Jingdezhen in the 14th century. It features scrolling lotus and a band of script imitating Tibetan, and was formerly in the private collection of Laura Langdon of Alberts Langdon in Boston. There three Tang Dynasty objects, which include a 7th c. flask with relief decoration of dancing boys, originally purchased from JJ Lally and Co., and an elegant “Sancai” circular box with domed interior. Vietnamese pieces from the same collection include two celadon ewers, and two large plates, one of which is decorated with a leaping deer in cobalt blue, and the other with a depiction of three islands in underglaze blue with overglaze enamel green, red and gold highlights.
A small group of Chinese Song Dynasty ceramics comes from the estate of a New York collector, has lovely examples of Qingbai and black and brown wares.
Korean ceramics are represented with a group of Goryeo celadons with elegant forms and radiant glazes, all from American and Japanese collections. A highlight of these is a carved cup-stand with carved lotus petals and floral incising, from the John R. Menke collection.
We look forward to welcoming you to the gallery this fall!
Until then, to view our online catalog, click here.
About the Gallery
Zetterquist Galleries was founded in 1992 by Eric J. Zetterquist to present the finest of Asian ceramics throughout the ages. Our clients include major museums and the most discerning collectors of Asian ceramics from around the world.
While most Asian antiquities galleries choose one country and show several different media from that country, Zetterquist chose to show one medium, ceramics, but cover all of East Asia. The flow of materials with stylistic and technical influences around the region over the past 2,000 years tells a fascinating story that gets more exciting with time.
