Lot Essay
The fascination with Jun ware lies in its remarkable glaze and the lustrous quality of the opalescent glaze on the present lot is particularly noteworthy. Not only is it especially fine for such a large piece, which would normally have a grainy bubbled glaze, but the tones are exceptionally vibrant and profuse, ranging from lavender-blue to purple to fuschia.
The opalescent quality of the Jun glaze is due to the effect of light on certain features within the glaze: the mass of tiny gas bubbles trapped in the glaze, the formation of minute crystals which reflect light back through the glaze, and an emulsion formed by two liquids within the glaze. Early examples of junyao have a plain pale bluish glaze. In the early 12th century the potters began to add splashes of copper oxide to the unfired glaze, which resulted in colourful pieces comprised of bright purple areas contrasting with the soft blue tone of the glaze. In the 'narcissus' bulb bowls, the usual arrangement was to have the interior glazed blue and the exterior purple. The present lot is remarkable in the even gradation of purple tones which suggests that the application of copper oxide was not random, but extremely controlled so as to produce the subtle shading effect.
Recent research has suggested that the numbers incised on the bottom, which clearly relate to the size of the bulb bowls, may also indicate which rooms they were kept in at the Imperial Palace. As a rule, the smaller the numeral incised, the larger the size of the vessel. These bowls were often called 'drum-nail' bowls, as the bosses symmetrically spaced in relief around the rim recall the pegs used to tighten the skin stretched on top of a drum to change the pitch.
It is very rare to find junyao 'narcissus' bowls inscribed with the numeral 'one'. Four bowls were included in the exhibition, A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taibei, 2000, and are illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 27 which is covered in a 'moon-white' glaze; no. 28, with an azure glaze; no. 29, with a bluish-green and purple glaze; and no. 30, also with 'moon-white' glaze. Two others also in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, are illustrated in Chun Ware of the Sung Dynasty, 1961, one with purple glaze, pls. 23 and 23a; and one covered overall in a pale blue glaze, pl. 22a. Another tripod 'narcissus' bowl, numbered 'one', and with a similar type of glaze, was sold in these Rooms, 1 May 1995, lot 637.
This bowl can also be compared to smaller 'drumnail narcissus' bowls glazed in similar combinations of purple and blue tones, all numbered 'four': one in the National Palace Museum, op. cit, 1961, pls. 25 and 25a; one in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated by M. Tregear, Song Ceramics, pl. 171; and another included in the Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Christie's London, 1993, Catalogue, no. 6.
Fragments of several 'drum-nail basins' of this form from the Jun ware kiln sites at Baguadong, Yuxian, Henan, with different numerals incised on the bases, were included in the O. C. S. Exhibition of Kiln Sites of Ancient China, 1980, Catalogue nos. 394-397.
(US$260,000-385,000)
The opalescent quality of the Jun glaze is due to the effect of light on certain features within the glaze: the mass of tiny gas bubbles trapped in the glaze, the formation of minute crystals which reflect light back through the glaze, and an emulsion formed by two liquids within the glaze. Early examples of junyao have a plain pale bluish glaze. In the early 12th century the potters began to add splashes of copper oxide to the unfired glaze, which resulted in colourful pieces comprised of bright purple areas contrasting with the soft blue tone of the glaze. In the 'narcissus' bulb bowls, the usual arrangement was to have the interior glazed blue and the exterior purple. The present lot is remarkable in the even gradation of purple tones which suggests that the application of copper oxide was not random, but extremely controlled so as to produce the subtle shading effect.
Recent research has suggested that the numbers incised on the bottom, which clearly relate to the size of the bulb bowls, may also indicate which rooms they were kept in at the Imperial Palace. As a rule, the smaller the numeral incised, the larger the size of the vessel. These bowls were often called 'drum-nail' bowls, as the bosses symmetrically spaced in relief around the rim recall the pegs used to tighten the skin stretched on top of a drum to change the pitch.
It is very rare to find junyao 'narcissus' bowls inscribed with the numeral 'one'. Four bowls were included in the exhibition, A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taibei, 2000, and are illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 27 which is covered in a 'moon-white' glaze; no. 28, with an azure glaze; no. 29, with a bluish-green and purple glaze; and no. 30, also with 'moon-white' glaze. Two others also in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, are illustrated in Chun Ware of the Sung Dynasty, 1961, one with purple glaze, pls. 23 and 23a; and one covered overall in a pale blue glaze, pl. 22a. Another tripod 'narcissus' bowl, numbered 'one', and with a similar type of glaze, was sold in these Rooms, 1 May 1995, lot 637.
This bowl can also be compared to smaller 'drumnail narcissus' bowls glazed in similar combinations of purple and blue tones, all numbered 'four': one in the National Palace Museum, op. cit, 1961, pls. 25 and 25a; one in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated by M. Tregear, Song Ceramics, pl. 171; and another included in the Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Christie's London, 1993, Catalogue, no. 6.
Fragments of several 'drum-nail basins' of this form from the Jun ware kiln sites at Baguadong, Yuxian, Henan, with different numerals incised on the bases, were included in the O. C. S. Exhibition of Kiln Sites of Ancient China, 1980, Catalogue nos. 394-397.
(US$260,000-385,000)