Page 51 - Six treasures of IMpeerial Art Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019

Amy Liang in her work on the art of penjing mentions that present piece. However, the official status of this group
Song jardinières made for miniature landscapes were is indisputable. It has recently been confirmed as such
primarily Ru and Jun wares, many of which are now in the by scholars from the Palace Museum in Beijing who have
5
collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. See identified them as the ‘display type of official Jun ware’
6
two hexagonal ‘Numbered’ Jun jardinières included in A (chenshe lei Jun ci huo guan Jun). Thus, the imperial use
Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National of both guan and Jun jardinières belonging to this group of
Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pls 47 and 48, wares has been established by these studies.
both inscribed with the number ‘seven (qi)’ and the reference In addition to its imperial provenance, more recently,
‘Made for the use of the Bright and Clear Studio in the Hall the present guan jardinière belonged to two of the most
of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin dian Mingchuang yong)’. The important collectors of Chinese art in the twentieth century,
‘Bright and Clear Studio’ was located in the Eastern section Mrs Alfred Clark (1890-1976) and Mr Sakamoto Gorō (1923-
of the Hall of Mental Cultivation where the New Year’s Day 2016). Ivy Clark, and her husband, Alfred Clark, formed
ceremony of the emperor writing his first poem of the year, one of the most fabled collections of Chinese ceramics
known as the ‘Bright and Clear Studio First Composition in the Western world. They were active supporters of the
Ceremony (Mingchuang kaibi dian), was held. This suggests Oriental Ceramic Society and were directly involved in the
that the two vessels were part of the furnishing of this special preparation of the 1935-6 Chinese art exhibition in London
studio with an important literary function.
to which they lent five dozen pieces. When Sir David’s wife,
On the significance of this distinct group of flower vessels Lady David, in an interview conducted in 1992, was asked
known as ‘Numbered Jun’ wares, that were mostly made whose collection her husband admired most she replied,
in moulds and inscribed on the base with numerals ‘I think the Clarks’… collection, I would say, was one of the
from one to ten, related to the size of the vessel, see finest’. The Japanese art collector, connoisseur and dealer,
7
Li Baoping, ‘Numbered Jun Wares: Controversies and Sakamoto Gorō, was a larger than life figure in the Chinese
New Kiln Site Discoveries,’ Transactions of the Oriental art world and whose extensive contribution to the collecting
Ceramic Society, vol. 71, 2006-7, pp. 65-77. The author and appraising of Chinese art was second to none. For a
discusses the controversy behind the dating of this group, detailed account of his career and legacy see Sakamoto
with the emergence of two different schools of thought, Gorō: The Legacy, Sotheby’s London, 2016.
one suggesting a late Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) 1 Sir Percival David, ‘Introduction,’ in The Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition
attribution, while the other proposed a later dating, which of Ju and Kuan Wares: Imperial Wares of the Sung Dynasty, Related Wares
would be more in line with the possible attribution of the and Derivatives of Later Date, London, 1952, p. 2.
2 See the notes in Guanyao ciqi, op.cit., pl. 32.
3 See the mural painting illustrated in Amy Liang, The Living Art of Bonsai:
Principles and Techniques of Cultivation and Propagation, New York, 2005,
p. 101. This is considered the oldest fresco depiction of penjing discovered
to date.
4 For guidance on the translation of this poem see Liang, op.cit., pp. 102-3.
5 Ibid., p. 203.
6 See Junyao yaji: Gugong Bowuyuan zhencang ji chutu Junyao ciqi huicui/
Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological
Excavation, Palace Museum, 2013, p. 168ff.
7 Anthony Lin Hua-Tien, ‘An Interview with Lady David’, Orientations, April
1992, pp. 56-63.

49