Page 94 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Song Ceramics
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T his dish is a masterpiece of abstract art. Since the Northern Qi and dishes were fired on their unglazed foot rings, the present dish
(550-577) and throughout the Tang (618-907) and Song (960- belongs to a small group of wares that were supported in the kiln on
1279) dynasties Chinese potters in many different manufactories three or five spurs, which enabled the overall dish, including the foot
created wares decorated with irregular splashes in contrasting glaze ring, to be glazed, a firing method probably copied from the Ru kilns
colours. The copper-red streaks on blue Jun wares, however, are that were located nearby.
different from the rest: they are not fortuitous drips and splashes,
but colour patterns that were applied with deliberation. Rose Kerr A closely related dish with the copper red applied in a similar
in Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, p. 34, notes that the generous curve, also with five spur marks, is in the Victoria and
splashes found on Jun wares were made with the application of Albert Museum, London, from the Eumorfopoulos collection,
copper in broad brush strokes or washes over dry bluish glazes, published in Rose Kerr, op.cit., pl. 26; a related dish with a very
which then merged when fired at full heat. Like an abstract painting, different ‘design’ of several detached patches of red, fired on three
the success of the overall effect therefore depends on the motion spurs, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection
of the brush that dictates the distribution across the surface, and of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological
on the relative ‘weight’ of one colour in relation to the other. This Excavation, Beijing, 2013, pl. 21; and one with much larger splashes,
challenge has been superbly managed on the present dish. from the collections of William Cleverly Alexander and Peter Harris,
included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Sung Dynasty
‘Jun’ ware, the most spectacular of the major Song dynasty wares, Wares. Chün and Brown Glazes, London, 1952, cat. no. 153, was
with its type site represented by the Juntai kilns in Yuzhou, Henan sold three times in our London rooms, 6th May 1931, lot 144, 26th
province, was produced by many different manufactories in Henan, April 1955, lot 79, and 18th November 1998, lot 857, and once in
including the Ru kilns at Qingliangsi in Baofeng, probably from these rooms, 21st May 1985, lot 70; see also a slightly larger dish
the end of the Northern Song period (960-1127) until at least the in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Gugong cang
Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The bold, irregular red streaks on Jun ci daxi: Junyao zhi bu/A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of
ware, as seen on the present piece, had an immense appeal to the the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pl. 57; other
literati and nobility of the time due to their simple yet flamboyant, dishes with similarly dramatic patterns, with slight variations in
calligraphic effect, which gives each vessel decorated in this manner size, were sold in our London rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 172; and
its unique design. 16th May 2012, lot 85, from the collections of Oscar Bjork and Klas
Fahraeus.
The outstanding quality of this dish is further evidenced in the five
small dot-shaped spur marks on the base. While many Jun bowls
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