Page 162 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTION Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation. Beijing,
2013, pls 94 and 95; another, also incised with the number yi
A LARGE PURPLE-SPLASHED LAVENDER-
(one), but covered in sky-blue glaze, in the National Palace
GLAZED ‘JUN’ NARCISSUS BOWL
Museum, Taipei, is published in A Panorama of Ceramics in
EARLY MING DYNASTY the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware,
Taipei, 1999, pl. 28, together with further examples inscribed
of shallow circular form, the rounded sides gently curving to
with di" erent numbers, pls 27-31 and 34-36. Compare also a
a ß at recessed base supported on three ruyi-shaped feet, the
bowl sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st May 1995, lot 637, and
mouth rim decorated with a band of evenly spaced bosses
again in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th May 2002, lot 521.
between two narrow raised bands, a further band of bosses
above the feet, the glaze on the interior of a milky-blue color, Mold-made vessels of this type are frequently incised with
the exterior a vivid purple thinning to a mushroom tone on numbers from one to ten on the base. The signiÞ cance of
the bosses, the thick glaze coagulating in droplets around the inscribed numbers is poorly understood. The numbers
the exterior, the base covered in a brown dressing and coincide roughly with di" erent sizes, yi (‘one’) being the
incised with the character yi (‘one’) largest and shi (‘ten’) the smallest version of the shape. This
Diameter 9½ in., 24 cm system would help to match sets of ß ower pots and their
stands but does not explain the appearance of numbers
This narcissus bowl with purple-and-blue glaze combination
on the base of vases and bulb bowls, such as the present
embodies the essence of Jun ware, the beauty of which is in
bowl, which generally are stand-alone vessels. For further
their robust forms and thick opaque glazes of varied bright
information see George J. Lee, ‘Numbered Chun Ware’,
blue colorations that thin to translucent around the rim and
Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 21, 1945-
edges of the vessel. The inside of the present bowl features
46, p. 61, which records Þ ve ‘numbered Jun’ vessels from
a milky-blue glaze infused with the characteristic markings
the collection of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane, possibly
that are known as ‘earthworm tracks’. The exterior is a
one of the most important collectors of ‘numbered Jun’
dazzling, rich purple tone.
wares outside China, and now in the Harvard University Art
Two bowls of similar size, one incised with the numeral er Museums, Cambridge, MA.
(two) and the other with yi (one), in the Palace Museum,
$ 100,000-150,000
Beijing, are illustrated in Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace
㖶⇅ġġġ懆䩘吉厬䳓䲭慱溻憀ᶱ嵛㯜ẁ䙮
⸽⫿烉
ᶨ

160 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART