Page 39 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

This narcissus bowl radiates the essence of Jun ware which The form of this bowl, also known as ‘drum nail’ basins,
derived its beauty from their robust forms which were coated belongs to a distinct group of flower receptacles known as
in a contrasting luminous thick glaze of varied moon-white ‘numbered Jun’ wares, mostly made in moulds and generally
colouration that becomes almost transparent around the inscribed on the base with numerals from one to ten that seem
edges of the vessel where the glaze thins significantly. On the to correspond to the size of the vessels. The dating of these
present bowl the glossy glaze is reminiscent of a hazy blue sky, wares has been long debated and continues to divide opinions
infused with the characteristic markings that have become between a Northern Song (960-1127), late Yuan (1279-1368)
known as ‘earthworm tracks’. and early Ming (1368-1644) attribution.
Highly prized throughout Chinese dynastic history since their The Northern Song date, adhered to by many eminent Chinese
production, these striking vessels were produced in a variety scholars, was supported by a surface find near the kiln sites
of proportions and glaze colours and are found in some of the of a mould fragment for coins bearing the Xuanhe reign name
most important museums and private collections of Chinese (1119-1125), made of Jun ware clay. However, at scholarly
art. Bowls of this type also incised with the character san conferences on the subject in Yuzhou in 2005 and in Shenzhen
(three), include two deep-lavender glazed examples, in the in 2006 the date of the coin mould itself has come under
National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in A Panorama scrutiny and was basically discredited, since it was shown
of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: not to be a mould for actual coins of that period and to bear a
Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, pls 32 and 33, together with further spurious reign mark of an even earlier period on the reverse.
examples inscribed with different numbers, pls 27-31 and Scientific tests of sherds undertaken by the Shanghai Museum
34-36; and another, from the collection of Captain Vivian have pointed to a late Yuan or early Ming date. A newly
Bulkeley-Johnson, The Mount Trust, sold twice at Christie’s discovered Jun ewer very similar in shape to a gold ewer from
Hong Kong in 1991 and 1996, again in our London rooms in the tomb of King Zhuang of Liang, buried in 1441, has also been
2003, and a fourth time in our New York rooms, 23rd March offered as evidence for a later dating.
2011, lot 514.
Since a large body of ‘numbered Jun’ wares remains in
Further bowls of this type, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are the Chinese imperial collection both in the National Palace
illustrated in Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum’s Museum, Taipei, and the Palace Museum, Beijing, often
Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2013, pls inscribed after firing with the names of Palace halls, a Yuan
94-96, 113, 115 and 116, together with fragments excavated date seems less likely, as virtually no Yuan ceramics formed
from the kiln site, pls 97-98 and one excavated in Yuzhou city part of the Qing court collection. The production of these
(pl. 114 and p. 343, figs 12-1 and 12-2); and another, incised flower vessels fits better into the early Ming dynasty, and they
with the numeral si (four) from the Dr W. Kilgenberg and Reach may well have been officially commissioned for the newly built
Family collections, included in the exhibition Chinese Art from imperial palace in Beijing in the Yongle period (1403-1424).
the Reach Family Collection, Eskenazi, London, 1989, cat. no. Furthermore, these vessels do not appear in any pre-Ming text
24, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th April 1997, lot 696, or painting, and their form is similar to early Ming celadon-
again in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 590, and a third time glazed flower vessels, such as one included in the exhibition
in our London rooms, 11th November 2015, lot 81. See also Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang
a blue-glazed bowl from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold in our Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 39.
Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 210.

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 37