Page 44 - Bonhams Wen Tang Collectiont, October 2014 Hong Kong

115 The chrysanthemum flower has long been admired in Chinese culture,
A fine and rare small Junyao ‘chrysanthemum- being selected as subject matter by many prominent painters and
head’ petal-rimmed dish poets. A symbol of autumn and the flower of the ninth month, the
Yuan/early Ming Dynasty chrysanthemum also represents longevity because of its health-giving
The shallow dish with sides moulded in the interior as petals, covered properties when brewed. During the Song Dynasty, vessels made
overall in an unctuous pale greyish-blue glaze, the unglazed base in the shape of a chrysanthemum flower became popular in various
burnt brown in the firing. media including silver, lacquer, and porcelain. Compare a Northern
13cm diam. Song Dynasty Qingbai small dish (11.5cm diam.) in the form of a flower
with many concave petals, in the British Museum, illustrated in Qingbai
HK$400,000 - 600,000 Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Percival
US$52,000 - 77,000 David Foundation of Chinese Art, 2002, pp.80-81, no.33. A similarly
shaped greenish-white glazed chrysanthemum dish with a flat base
元/明初 鈞窯天青釉菊花口盤 and interior, dated to the Song Dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
provenance 來源: Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty II, Hong Kong, 1996, p.173,
R. Randolph Richmond Collection (affixed label) no.157. In the case of Junyao wares, chrysanthemum-shaped dishes
Mathias Komor, New York (affixed label) appear to be rare, with no similar example appearing to be published.

The milky-blue glaze on the present lot, with prominent crackles
on the interior, is particularly striking. Often referred to by Chinese
scholars as ‘moon white,’ pale blue-white Jun glazes have a lustrous
and opalescent quality that is highly sought after. Examples of ‘moon
white’ glaze include a Junyao dish with foliated sides in the Sir Percival
David collection, illustrated in Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration,
London, 2003, pp.46-47, no.13; and a Junyao zhadou illustrated in A
Panorama of Ceramics in the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware,
Taipei, 1999, pp.60-61, no.13.

See also another fine example, formerly in the collection of Lord Rolf
Cunliffe and later in the collection of Professor and Mrs P.H. Plesch,
exhibited in the Ju and Kuan Wares at the Oriental Ceramic Society,
London, 1952, no.19 was sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 July 2006, lot
39, and again at our Hong Kong rooms, 27 May 2012, lot 9.

42 | Bonhams