Page 26 - Chinese works of art and paintings, March 19 Bonhams

(two views)

8029
A RARE JUN-TYPE PURPLE GLAZED TEA BOWL
Yuan/Ming dynasty The combination of sky blue and vivid purple glaze coloration
Well-potted with gently rounded sides curving in slightly just below relates this bowl to the Junyao group of ceramics, recorded at kiln
the everted rim, the exterior covered in a rich mottled purple glaze, excavations and documented burials from the Song through Ming
extending over the rim into the interior where it transitions to a milky- periods. Its function as a tea bowl is indicated by the indented lip on
blue glaze, which also covers the foot, except for the unglazed dark- its exterior walls, a distinctive feature of tea bowls inaugurated at the
brown foot ring. Jian kilns of Fujian in the Song period and copied at kilns throughout
3 1/4in (8.3cm) diameter northern and southern China.

$15,000 - 20,000 Tea bowls of identical shape to this lot have yet to be published
from Jun kiln excavations or burials in the past few years. However
元/明 鈞窰式紫釉盌 a dish with the same contrasting reddish-purple and sky blue
glaze, subtle shape and careful potting comparable to this tea bowl
Provenance was discovered during excavations at the Juntai kiln site in Henan
Collection of of Hidenari Terasaki (1900-1951), by descent carried out in 2004. The dish was included in the Palace Museum
study Jun ci ya ji: gugong bowu yuan zhencang ji chutu junyao ciqi
huicui [Selection of Jun Ware: the Palace Museum’s collection and
archeological excavation] (Beijing, 2013), cat. No. 117, pp. 264-265
(as Yuan-early Ming dynasty, diameter 18.8cm); and appeared earlier
in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji: vol. 12: Henan (2008), cat. No 211
(as Jun type and dated as Yuan dynasty, 18.8cm diameter). See
also the Jun-type purple glazed tea bowl of slightly different shape,
related to the 2013 study of the Palace Museum Jun wares and sold
in Christie’s Hong Kong sale 3372, 26 November 2104, lot 2925, (as
Xuande period).

Other shards from the 2004 Juntai kiln site excavation match the
group of ‘numbered Jun’ containers with purple and pale blue glazes
preserved in the former Qing imperial collections, various museums
and private collections throughout the world. There is no agreement
at present on the dating of this group, but thermoluminescence
testing on the shards from the 2004 excavation and comparable
tomb finds suggest Yuan or early Ming date for the ‘numbered’ Jun
group and, by extension, this tea bowl (see Laurie E. Barnes, ‘Yuan
Dynasty Ceramics’, pp. 338-34, published in Li Zhiyin et al, Chinese
Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty [Yale
University Press, 2010]).

This bowl appears to be the “Chungyao” bowl mentioned in Gwen
Terasaki’s biography, Bridge to the Sun, Rock Creek Books, 2017,
(bottom view) pp.51, 96, 97, 216.

24 | BONHAMS