Page 54 - Chinese Ceramics the Linyushanren Collection Part 1 , Christie's

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A PURPLE-SPLASHED JUN BOWL The brilliant purple splashes on the current bowl were produced by the
addition of copper oxides to the surface of unfired glaze, a decorative
NORTHERN SONG-JIN DYNASTY, 12TH-13TH CENTURY technique that appeared on Jun wares starting from the end of the 11th
century. In the 2001 excavation of the Liujiamen Jun ware kiln site in
The bowl is delicately potted with rounded sides, covered inside and out Shenhou, Yuzhou city, Jun ware shards decorated with large red and
with a lavender-blue glaze with two purplish splashes on the exterior purple areas were found in the late Northern Song strata, and illustrated
and further splashes on the interior, thinning to mushroom on the rim in ‘Liujiamen junyao fajue jianbao’ (Brief of the Excavation of Jun Ware
and falling in an irregular line above the neatly cut foot. The foot and at Liujiamen), Wenwu (Cultural Relics), 2003, no. 11, fig. 13 and 19.
countersunk base are unglazed, with the exception of two glaze drops, From the same excavation, shard of a small bowl with rounded sides and
exposing the greyish-brown biscuit body. a slightly inverted rim, strongly reminiscent of the current bowl was also
found in the late Northern Song stratum, and a line drawing is illustrated
3¡ in. (8.6 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box ibid., p. 34, fig. 15.7

HK$2,000,000-3,000,000 US$260,000-390,000 Jun bowls with splashes on both the interior and exterior are highly
sought after. Examples of similar bowls, mostly of below 9 cm. in
北宋/金 鈞窯天藍釉紫斑小盌 diameter, include one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in
Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of
PROVENANCE the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 246, pl. 222 (8.3 cm. diam.);
Kochukyo, Tokyo another in the collection of the Percival David Foundation, illustrated
by S. Pierson, Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration, London, 2003, p. 61,
EXHIBITED pl. 20 (PDF 45B) (8.6 cm. diam.); one in the Metropolitan Museum,
Tokyo National Museum, Chugoku sou gen bijutsuten (Art of Song and illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York,
Yuan), 22 April to 22 May 1961, Catalogue, no. 155 1975, p. 87, no. 80 (50.145.316) (8.6 cm. diam.). Other examples are
The Japan Ceramic Society and Yomiuri Shinbun, Tou Sou Meitou ten bowls illustrated by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva, 1968, vol. 1,
(Exhibition of Masterpieces of Tang and Song Ceramics), Nihonbashi nos. A31 and A32 (both 8.5 cm. diam.); in the T.Y. Chao Private and
Shirakiya Department Store, Tokyo, 10-22 April 1964, no. 121 Family Trust Collections, Part II, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19 May
The Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, The Inaugural Exhibition, October 1987, lot 209 (9.2 cm. diam.); and in the Edward T. Chow Collection,
1978 sold at Sotheby’s London, 7 June 2000, lot 93 (9 cm. diam.).
The Nezu Museum, Wine Vessels of Four Seasons, Tokyo, 5 February to 14
March 1999, Section 13, no. 7
The Tokyo Bijutsu Club, Special Exhibition to Celebrate 100 Year Anniversary
of Tokyo Bijutsu Club, 2006, no. 29
Christie’s, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song
Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November
2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013,
Catalogue, no. 20

LITERATURE
Tokyo National Museum, Chugoku sou gen bijutsuten (Arts of Song and
Yuan), Tokyo, 1961, no. 155
The Japan Ceramic Society and Yomiuri Shinbun, Tou Sou Meitou ten
(Exhibition of Masterpieces of Tang and Song Ceramics), Nihonbashi
Shirakiya Department Store, Tokyo, 1964, no. 121
The Tokyo Bijutsu Club, Grand Heritage - a Tradition of Beauty, 2006,
p. 103, no. 29
Christie’s, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures
from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 70-71, no. 20
Rosemary Scott, ‘Chinese Classic Wares from a Japanese Collection: Song
Ceramics from the Linyushanren Collection’, Arts of Asia, March-April 2014,
pp. 97-108, fig. 19

The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics 古韻天成 — 臨宇山人珍藏（一） 52