How does David Vases elucidate its Provenence?
The vases are Jingdezhen porcelain, commissioned by someone named Zhang Wenjin (張文進) from Yushan County to be presented as altar pieces to a Daoist temple in Xingyuan (星源, present day Wuyuan County, Jiangxi) in 1351. It has been proposed that the vases were manufactured at the Hengfeng Zhen kilns near the temple. Long inscriptions were added to the vases, which gives their date of production.David acquired the vases from two separate sources; the first from Mountstuart Elphinstone in the 1920s, the second from an auction in 1935 of the collection of Charles E. Russell. Russell was said to have acquired his vase from a Chinese collector Wu Lai-Hsi (吳賴熙, Wu Laixi), who in turn was claimed to have bought it from a priest of Zhilun temple in eastern Beijing, although this fact could not be verified.
Jingdezhen porcelain Daoist Mountstuart Elphinstone Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Yushan County