Page 158 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

This piece is representative of a distinct and rare group of Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from the Ming and Qing
Jun flower receptacles known as ‘numbered’ Jun wares, on Dynasties, Taipei, 2014, p. 39 (top). A barbed jardinière is
account of the Chinese numerals inscribed on their bases painted in the anonymous handscroll Elegant Gathering in
before firing. These bulb bowls were most likely made for the Apricot Garden from 1437, which depicts the court official
the Imperial court and were displayed in elegant gardens Yang Rong (1371-1440) during a gathering of scholars at
through the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). his home in Beijing. The painting is now in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, and was included in the exhibition
Bulb bowls with such striking blue glazes were made at the
Juntai kiln site in Junzhou Prefecture (today’s Yuzhou or Ming. 50 Years that changed China, British Museum, London,
Yuxian), in Henan province, where ceramic production lasted 2014, cat. no. 164.
from the Song (960-1279) to the Ming (1368-1644) dynasty. A bulb bowl covered in a similar sky-blue glaze, but inscribed
While this type of glaze was made at various kilns in Henan with the numeral one, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is
province, ‘numbered’ Jun vessels have been recovered only illustrated in Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum’s
at Juntai. The Chinese numerals inscribed on these wares Collection and Archaeological Excavations, Beijing, 2013, pl.
range from one (the largest) to ten (the smallest), which 115, together with six examples ranging from 21 to 25.5 cm
appear to be indicative of their size and corresponding in diameter, pls 94-96 and 113-116, and a reconstructed bulb
stands. bowl recovered at Juntai and now in the Research Institute of
Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province, Luoyang,
Numbered Jun wares were traditionally attributed to the
Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), although recent research ibid., pl. 97; and four slightly larger examples inscribed with
and archaeological evidence suggest they were more likely the numerals one and five, in the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, are illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the
made in the early Ming dynasty. Scholars had traditionally Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei,
relied on a mould for coins inscribed with the reign name
of Emperor Huizong (1100-1126), Xuanhe, unearthed 1999, pls 27-28 and 34-35. See also a bulb bowl inscribed
at the kiln site. This inscription is however stylistically with the numeral three, from the Mount Trust Collection,
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in 1991 and 1996, in our London
different to that found on genuine Xuanhe yuanbao rooms in 2003, and most recently in these rooms, 23rd
coins. Thermoluminescence (TL) tests carried out by the
Shanghai Museum have further challenged the traditional March 2011, lot 514; another inscribed with the numeral four,
Northern Song attribution, suggesting that they were made from the Dexingshuwu collection, sold at Christie’s New
York, 25th October 1993, lot 705, and again in these rooms,
remarkably later. Jun garden wares do not appear in any 18th March 2008, lot 100; and a slightly larger one, from the
pre-Ming text or painting, and their form is closer to early
Ming celadon-glazed flower vessels, such as one included T.Y. Chao collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May
in the exhibition Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at 1987, lot 210.
Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 39. The Yongzheng (r. 1723-1735) and Qianlong (r. 1736-1795)
Emperors were particularly fond of these wares. The
Jun garden ware appears often on contemporary paintings former instructed the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen to create
that depict elegant gardens. A bulb bowl of this form is reproductions, while the latter had many Jun flower pots
depicted in the anonymous hanging scroll The Eighteen
Scholars, attributed to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), in the inscribed with hall names, presumably indicating where they
National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the museum’s were displayed. Two Jun-type bulb bowls of this form from
the Yongzheng period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are
exhibition The Enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A
illustrated op. cit., pls 126 and 127.

156 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART