Page 36 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

QING PORCELAIN FROM THE COLLECTION

OF STEPHEN JUNKUNC, III LOTS 515-524

there are a handful of names in the world of his first acquisitions in the early 1930s, apparently
Chinese art that are inextricably associated with after having happened upon a book on Chinese
works of exceptional quality. stephen Junkunc, III art. It is perhaps no coincidence that Junkunc’s
is amongst these luminaries. the name itself is initial collecting activity largely coincided with the
instantly evocative of a period during which some establishment of the Chicago branch of the reputable
of the greatest Chinese treasures came to america. Japanese dealer Yamanaka & Co., Ltd., who opened
the Junkunc name today serves as one of the most a gallery at 846 north michigan Boulevard in 1928.
important, and indeed desirable, provenances for many of Junkunc’s early purchases came from
Chinese art. Formed in america in the mid-20th Yamanaka, and before long, he was buying directly
century, by stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978) the from the leading London dealers specializing in
Junkunc Collection at its height numbered over Chinese art: Bluett & sons, W. Dickinson & sons,
2,000 examples of exceptional Chinese porcelain, h.r.n. norton and, of course, John sparks, seeking
jade, bronzes, paintings and Buddhist sculptures; fine examples of porcelain for his collection.
serving as a testament to a period of unprecedented the collection of Chinese ceramics from the Junkunc
wealth of Chinese material available in the West, as Collection ranks amongst the greatest assemblages
well as to an astounding intellectual curiosity and of porcelain ever formed in the West. the collection
the means with which to buy internationally from the included two examples of the fabled ru ware, of
leading dealers in the field.
which only eighty-seven examples in the world are
stephen Junkunc, III was born in Budapest, hungary known. these two dishes represented two of the
circa 1905, and emigrated to Chicago, Illinois as a only seven examples of ru ware to have been offered
young child, where his father stephen Junkunc, II at auction since the 1940s. one of the ru dishes,
(d. 1948), a tool-and-die maker, founded General purchased from C.t. Loo in 1941, set a new world
machinery & manufacturing Company in 1918. the record when it sold at auction for $1.6 million in new
company specialized in the manufacture of metal York in 1992, and is today in the esteemed collection
stampings for casket hardware. With the outbreak of au Bak Ling.
of World War II, General machinery converted its By the early 1950s, Junkunc had amassed an
shop for the war effort and began manufacturing impressive collection of Chinese works of art which
various aircraft parts, including B-29 hydraulic spools by then was largely securely stored in the museum-
on behalf of Ford motor Company, who was sub- like environs of a subterranean bomb shelter in the
contracting work from engine maker pratt & Whitney.
grounds of his home in oak park, Illinois. In a 1952
alongside his role as manager and part owner of the profile in the Chicago Tribune, the bunker is described
company, stephen Junkunc, III spent his free time as storing a ‘priceless hoard’, with ‘shelves weighted
forming an extraordinary collection of Chinese art. with priceless pieces of Chinese art, prizes produced
With an unabated hunger for knowledge, Junkunc thru [sic] a span of centuries. a record of a nation in
was a voracious reader who studied the Chinese tapestry, bronze, jade, pottery, robes, and lacquer’.
language and kept extensive libraries of Chinese art Junkunc continued purchasing and studying Chinese
reference books and auction catalogues at both his art until his death in 1978, whereupon the collection
home and office. Junkunc appears to have made passed to his son stephen Junkunc IV and has
remained in the family collection.

Fig. xxx CompCaptionToCome

34 SOTHEBY’S Important ChInese art