Page 62 - Chinese Ceramics the Linyushanren Collection Part 1 , Christie's
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A RARE ‘NUMBER SIX’ JUN ZUN-SHAPED VASE from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts
in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, Catalogue, no. 48. Both the
YUAN-MING DYNASTY, 14TH-15TH CENTURY present piece and the Idemitsu zun have short flanges on the neck and
flanges covering the entire length of the body and the foot. Unlike the
The vase is sturdily potted in the form of an archaic bronze zun vessel bronze zun, Jun ware zun-shaped vase has no surface decoration and its
with heavy flanges on four sides. The body is supported on a spalyed foot, impact relies on the remarkable form and glaze. Traditional scholarship
surmounted by a wide trumpet neck. It is applied all over with a thick linked this archaistic form with the Emperor Huizong (1101-1126) who
milky lavender-blue glaze suffused with purplish mottling, thinning to a was a great connoisseur of archaic bronzes and a celebrated patron of
greenish-brown colour at the rims. The counter sunken base is covered ceramic production. However, recent scholarship has tended to support
with brown slip, and the inner foot is incised with the numeral, liu, ‘six’. the idea that these fine quality numbered Jun vessels should date to the
Yuan or early Ming dynasty, late 14th to early 15th century.
9√ in. (25 cm.) high, box
Shards of one Jun ware zun-shaped vase was excavated from the Juntai
HK$4,000,000-6,000,000 US$520,000-780,000 kiln in Yuzhou city, Henan province and was restored, illustrated in
‘Junyao shinian’ (A Decade of Jun Ware Studies), Chinese Cultural Relics,
元/明初 鈞窯天藍釉出戟尊 「六」字款 March 2012, p. 79 (fig. 1). There are about twelve Jun ware zun-shaped
vases in the international collections. Two other known zun-shaped vases
PROVENANCE bearing the numeral six are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one
A Greek Private Collection, sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 July 2006, lot 36 with moon-white glaze, illustrated in Chun Ware, A Panorama of Ceramics
in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, 1999, pp. 38-39, no. 2;
EXHIBITED and the other one with lilac glaze, illustrated in ibid., pp. 40-41, no. 3.
Christie’s, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Another ‘number six’ Jun ware zun-shaped vase from the Robert Chang
Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November collection, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 Oct 2000, lot 805.
2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013, For further examples are in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in
Catalogue, no. 25 Chun Ware, A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace
Museum, op. cit., pp. 36-37, no. 1 and pp. 42-49, no. 4-7, with moon-
LITERATURE white glaze (number five); with grape-purple glaze (number eight); and
Christie’s, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures the last three with moon-white glaze (number ten). Compare also to
from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 80-81, no. 25 other Jun ware zun-shaped vases, one bearing the numeral ‘three’ in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I),
Jun ware zun-shaped vase of the present type is the rarest form among The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong
‘numbered’ Jun wares. Known as Chuji zun (flanged zun) in Chinese, this Kong, 1996, pp. 14-15, no. 12; one from the J.M. Hu collection in the
form is inspired by Shang/Western Zhou ritual bronze wine vessel, zun. Shanghai Museum illustrated in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr
The Jun ware version successfully captures the architectonic quality of its & Mrs J. M. Hu, pl. 9 (fig. 2); and another one bearing the numeral
bronze prototype by emphasizing the prominent flanges that articulate the ‘four’ from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco published by He Li,
vase’s vertical silhouette. A closely related Shang dynasty bronze zun vessel Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, no. 245.
fig. 1 A restored Jun ware zun-shaped fig. 2 A Jun ware zun-shaped vase,
vase, excavated from the Juntai kiln in
Yuzhou city Shanghai Museum
圖一 鈞窯出戟尊修復件 禹州鈞臺窯址出土 圖二 鈞窯出戟尊 上海博物館藏品
The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics 古韻天成 — 臨宇山人珍藏（一） 60
