Page 210 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

Xuande period (1425–1436); in fact, this technical relationship and its happy pots, two are virtually identical to the present jardinière, each with variegated
aesthetic efects signal that Numbered Jun pieces are unlikely to have been azure and purple glazes on the exterior and each with the numeral three
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produced earlier than the Xuande period, though they possibly could have inscribed on the base (numbers 1942.185.9 and 1942.185.10 ). The frst-
been produced as late as the mid-ffteenth-century, during the Chenghua mentioned Harvard jardinière (1942.185.9) has incised into the glaze on its
reign (1465–1487). base a Qing-palace inscription reading Chonghuagong Cuiyunguan yong,
which might be translated “Palace of Double Glory, used in the Lodge of
Just as the precise dating of Numbered Jun ware remains vexingly Emerald Clouds,” indicating that the vessel formerly was part of the Imperial
problematic, so does its place of manufacture. As Rosemary Scott has Collection and was housed in the Forbidden City.
aptly explained, “Stonewares with Jun-type glazes have been found at
the Northern Song Ru ware site at Qingliangsi, Henan province, but the Robert D. Mowry
eponymous site for normal Jun wares is Juntai in Yuxian, Henan province, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus,
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which was excavated in 1964 and 1974, and was located just inside the gate Harvard Art Museums, and
in the northern part of the town of Yuzhou. Yuxian was a very active ceramic Senior Consultant, Christie’s
producing area from the Tang to the Ming dynasty, as evidenced by the
discovery of more than 100 kilns in the area. However, Jun-type wares were
also made at kilns in other parts of Henan, as well as in Hebei and Shanxi
provinces. Everyday Jun wares such as bowls, dishes, cup-stands, vases 1 Song-dynasty fgure paintings 宋代人物畫 occasionally include depictions of peonies or small
and ewers have been found at these sites and also in tombs and hoards sculptured trees—called penzai 盆栽 in Chinese but better known in the West by the Japanese
which can be dated to the Song, Jin and Yuan periods. These include both pronunciation of that name, bonsai—growing in zun-shaped 尊形 pots either indoors or on garden
terraces; although typically simpler in profle than this jardinière and not specifcally identifable as Jun
monochrome blue and copper splashed wares. The dating of these everyday ware, the planters in such paintings indicate that elegant vessels were used for miniature trees and
wares is relatively straightforward.” 13 other plants by Song times. See the small circular painting by Su Hanchen 蘇漢臣 (twelfth century) in
the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (29.960) in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Painting: Leading
Masters and Principles (London), 1956 and 1958; reprinted New York, 1973, vol. 3, pl. 270. Lobed
The use of press molds that permitted the continuation of the foliations of vessels, akin in shape to Numbered Jun examples, occasionally appear in Yuan 元朝 fgure paintings;
the rim through the walls of the fower pot and into the footring provides see “Whiling Away the Summer” painted by Liu Guandao 劉貫道 (active c. 1279–1300) and now in the
collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, in Wai-kam Ho, Sherman E. Lee,
technical evidence that Numbered Jun pieces must date to the ffteenth Laurence Sickman, Marc F. Wilson, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson
century. Given that Numbered Jun pieces are exceptionally rare, that they are Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum
extraordinarily homogeneous in style and technique of manufacture, and that of Art), 1980, pp. 112-113, no. 92.
most have, or once had, documentable palace associations, it is tempting 2 Some specialists maintain that the numerals were impressed with a stamp, but others believe they
were incised or carved with a scalpel; in any event, it can be said with certainty that the numerals
to ask if all such pieces might have been made at a single kiln as part of were added before such vessels were fred and before the glaze was applied (as the glaze covers the
one large commission for the palace, perhaps to celebrate the dedication numerals); if stamped, the numerals would have been impressed while the body clay was still moist, if
incised or carved, the numerals would have been added when the body clay was leather-hard.
of a new complex within the Forbidden City, whose origins of course date
to the early ffteenth century. As yet, no evidence has yet come to light to 3 For a matching fower-pot-and-basin set, see Harvard Art Museums 1942.185.5 and 1942.185.51 in
James Cuno, ed., Harvard’s Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
substantiate this speculation, but a thorough scrutiny of palace archival Art Museums), 1996, pp. 58-59; also see: https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/
records might one day prove revealing. object/303530?position=0
4 Glaze covers the walls of the drainage holes, indicating that the holes were pierced before fring, not
Controlled kiln excavations one day will settle the much-debated question drilled later.
of the dating of Numbered Jun ware; such archaeological investigations 5 W. David Kingery and Pamela B. Vandiver, Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure, and Technology (New
York: Free Press; London: Collier Macmillan), 1986, pp. 93-109.
doubtless eventually will identify the kilns that produced the numbered
6 Rosemary Scott, The Imperial Sale and Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Christie’s Hong
wares and will clarify the relationship between numbered and classic wares. Kong sale number 3433, 3 June 2015 (Hong Kong: Christie’s), 2015, lot 3121.
As fower pots and associated basins were made for use by the living and 7 For additional information on Jun glazes and phase separation, see: W. David Kingery and Pamela B.
thus seldom appear among tomb furnishings, archaeology probably will shed Vandiver, “Song dynasty Jun (Chun) Ware Glazes”, Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 62, no.
less light on the identity of the clients for whom the vessels were made, but 1, pp 1269-79; Chen Xianqiu et al., “The Structural Characteristics of Henan Antique Jun Ware Sherds
and the Evidence of Their Two Kinds of Phase Separation”, Journal of the Chinese Silicate Society, vol. 9,
perhaps a detailed search of palace archives one day will reveal a long- 1981, pp 245-54; Guo Yanyu and Li Guozhen, “Scientifc Analysis of Ancient Jun Wares”, Proceedings of
forgotten commission. 1989 International Symposium on Ancient Ceramics (Shanghai), 1989, pp. 66-72.
8 See: Sarah Wong, “Jun for the Palace” in Giuseppe Eskenazi, ed., Junyao (London: Giuseppe Eskenazi
Gallery), 2013, pp. 29-45.
A closely related jardinière, also with the number three inscribed on the
base, appears in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei; the 9 Basil Gray, Sung Porcelain and Stoneware (London and Boston, 1984), pp. 88-90; Zhao Qingyun,
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“Henan Yuxian Juntai yaozhi di fajue” [Excavation of the Juntai Kiln Site at Yuxian in Henan], Wenwu
Taipei Palace Museum collection also includes two additional fower pots [Cultural Relics], no. 6 (1975), pp. 57-63 / 趙青雲， 河南禹縣鈞台窯址的發掘, 文物, no. 6 (1975), pp. 57-63.
of similar shape including one with azure blue glaze, impressed with the 10 Margaret Medley, Yüan Porcelain and Stoneware (London: Faber and Faber), 1974, pp. 94-96;
numeral fve, and one with a variegated azure and purple glaze, impressed Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter: A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics (New York: Scribner),
1976, pp. 120-122; Mikami Tsugio, Ryō Kin Gen [Liao, Jin, Yuan], vol. 13 in Sekai tōji zenshū [Ceramic
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with the numeral seven. The collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum,
Art of the World] (Tokyo: Shogakukan), 1981, p. 246, nos. 289-293 / 三上次男, 遼金元, vol. 13, 世界陶瓷全
London, includes a similar azure-purple-glazed planter with impressed 集 (東京: 小学館), p. 246, nos. 289-293; Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection
numeral three on its base (C.35-1935). Two similarly shaped jardinières, (London, 1994), vol. 1, p. 225, no. 399; Robert D. Mowry, “Recent Thoughts on the Dating of Numbered
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Jun Ware” in Giuseppe Eskenazi, ed., Junyao (London: Giuseppe Eskenazi Gallery), 2013, pp. 11–15.
each with a variegated azure-purple glaze, each inscribed with the numeral
11 Most notably in the large jars, chargers, censers, and temple vases produced in the kilns at
three, and each formerly in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), Longquan, Zhejiang province 浙江省龍泉窯, and at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province 江西省景德镇.
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New York, sold at Sotheby’s, London, on 25 March 1975 (lots 224 and 225). 12 Zhao, “Henan Yuxian Juntai yaozhi di fajue”, Wenwu, no. 6 (1975), pp. 57-63 / 趙青雲， 河南禹縣鈞台窯
The similarly shaped and glazed jardinière with the number four inscribed 址的發掘, 文物, no. 6 (1975), pp. 57-63.
on its underside and once owned by renowned British collector George 13 Scott, The Imperial Sale and Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Christie’s Hong Kong sale
Eumorfopoulos (1863–1939) was sold at Sotheby’s, London, in 1940. A number 3433, 3 June 2015, lot 3121.
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similarly shaped and glazed planter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New 14 See: A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware (Taipei:
National Palace Museum), 1999, pp. 78-79, no. 22 / 故宫藏瓷大系: 鈞窯之部 (台北： 國立故宮博物院），1999
York (45.42.5), bears the inscribed numeral six on its base. ，pp. 78-79, no. 22.
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15 See: A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, 1999, pp.
The largest and most diverse collection of Numbered Jun wares outside of 81-84, nos. 23 and 24 / 故宫藏瓷大系: 鈞窯之部 (台北： 國立故宮博物院），1999，pp. 81-84, nos. 23, 24.
the National Palace Museum is in the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 16 See: John Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London: Sotheby Parke
MA. Given in 1942 by Ernest B. Dane (1868–1942) his wife, Helen Pratt Dane Bernet), 1980, pl. 104.
(1867–1949), of Brookline, Massachusetts, the Harvard Numbered Jun ware 17 Sotheby’s, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Sotheby’s London sale, 25 March 1975 (London:
Sotheby’s), 1975, pp. 43-44, lots 224 and 225, and color plate p. 45.
collection includes forty-one complete jardinières and one fragmentary
jardinière modifed to serve as a censer. In addition, the collection includes 18 See: Sotheby’s, The Eumorfopoulos Collections, Sotheby’s London sale, 29 May 1940 (London:
Sotheby & Co.), 1940, p. 58, lot 179.
sixteen drip-basins, one zun-shaped fower vase, and one fragmentary
19 See: https://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49218?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance
zun-shaped vase modifed to serve as a censer. Of the forty-one complete &ft=Jun+ware&ofset=0&rpp=80&pos=67
jardinières, thirteen are hexagonal with foliated rims—that is, in the shape 20 See: https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/205651?position=11
Chinese collectors traditionally call kuihuashi. Among the hexagonal fower 21 https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/205671?position=13
206