Page 204 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM THE LINYUSHANREN COLLECTION
1722
A VERY RARE ‘NUMBER THREE’ JUN TRIPOD
‘NARCISSUS’ BOWL
YUAN-MING DYNASTY, 14TH-15TH CENTURY
The sturdily potted, shallow, rounded body is applied with a band of sixteen scholars have also noted that the numbers appear to have an indirectly
‘nail-head’ bosses above the three ruyi-shaped feet, and a further band of proportional relationship with the sizes of the vessels, with ten representing
nineteen bosses positioned between a bow-string border and the raised the smallest and one the largest. Jun ‘narcissus’ bowls of this group appear
mouth rim. It is covered overall in a milky lavender-blue glaze shading to in three styles, and are traditionally catalogued as ‘brush washers’ though
reddish brown on the raised areas. The base is inscribed with the character the function of these bowls might well be stands for fower pots. The frst
san, ‘three’, and partially covered with a thin olive-toned glaze, interrupted by a has a circular mouth rim and ‘nail-head’ bosses on the exterior, such as the
ring of small spur marks that reveal the grey body. present example. The second style has six petal lobes, such as the ‘number
8 º in. (21.3 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box nine’ example in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in A Panorama of
Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware, Taipei,
1999, p. 116-17, no. 41. And the third has six molded bracket lobes at the
$120,000-180,000
fattened rim, such as the ‘number four’ bowl, also from the Linyushanren
Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 2812.
PROVENANCE
John Calvin Ferguson (1866-1945) Collection, Boston, Massachusetts. The present bowl appears to be one of the very few ‘narcissus bowls’ of
Mr. and Mrs. Ira (1912-2004) and Nancy (1915-2005) Koger Collection, ‘nail-head’ design that is inscribed with the numeral ‘three’. One example
Savannah, Georgia. from the collection of Captain Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson, the Mount Trust, was
J.J. Lally & Co., New York. sold at Sotheby’s New York, 23 March 2011, lot 514; and a second example
was sold at Sotheby’s London, 9 November 2005, lot 277. It is interesting to
EXHIBITED
note that due to their rarity, ‘number three’ examples are absent from several
Sarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics
major institutions with very comprehensive ‘numbered’ Jun collections, such
- The Koger Collection, May 1985.
as the Palace Museum, Beijing, the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and the
LITERATURE Harvard University Art Museum.
J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics - The Koger Collection, New York, 1985, p. 52, no.
28. For Jun bowls similar in form to that of the present example, but with
diferent numerals, see the examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
The present bowl belongs to a group of Jun vessels comprising narcissus illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum
bowls, fower pots, and zun-shaped vases with prominent fanges, where - 32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 28-33, nos.
each vessel has been incised or stamped with a Chinese numeral on the 24-28; as well as further examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
base. The numbers range from one to ten, and according to the Nanyao biji illustrated ibid., A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National
(Notes of the Nanyao), composed during the Qianlong reign, the numbers Palace Museum: Chun Ware, pp. 88-107, nos. 27-36.
are indications that pair specifc fower pots with stands. In recent years, 元/明 鈞窯天藍釉鼓釘三足水仙盆 「三」 字款

(base)

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