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Lot Essay
Vases are quite rare among Jun wares, possibly because of the difficulties inherent in firing them successfully. While a few meiping vases are known from the later period, essentially two main vase forms were made in the Song and Jin periods. These are both pear-shaped vases, one with a waisted neck, which flares slightly towards the mouth, and the other with an almost cylindrical neck, which is everted at the mouth. The Falk vase is of the second type. The first group, of which there are more examples, is typified by two vases in the Percival David Foundation. One is plain blue and is illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, Percival David Foundation, London, 1999, p. 38, no. 80, while the other is splashed with copper purple and is illustrated by R. Scott in Imperial Taste - Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, San Francisco, 1989, p. 38, no. 14.
The Falk vase, however, is interesting not only for its rarity, but because it is particularly well potted, has an unsplashed soft blue glaze, and has adopted a form associated with the imperial Ru wares. A Ru vase with a damaged mouth, but of similar form to the Falk Jun vase, is in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and is illustrated by Wang Qing-zheng, et al., in The Discovery of Ru Kiln, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 41. A Ru ware vase of similar form was also excavated in 1987 at Baofengxian, Henan province and is illustrated in Da Huanghe wen ming zhan, Tokyo, 1998, p. 127, no. 98. Although the Falk Jun vase is rather smaller and its body is a little more pear-shaped than the Henan vase, the influence is apparent. There was a significant link between Ru and Jun wares; indeed, some Jun-type pieces were made at the Baofengxian kilns. The link is particularly strong with plain blue Jun wares, without copper splash, as in the case of the Falk vase.
The Falk vase, however, is interesting not only for its rarity, but because it is particularly well potted, has an unsplashed soft blue glaze, and has adopted a form associated with the imperial Ru wares. A Ru vase with a damaged mouth, but of similar form to the Falk Jun vase, is in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and is illustrated by Wang Qing-zheng, et al., in The Discovery of Ru Kiln, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 41. A Ru ware vase of similar form was also excavated in 1987 at Baofengxian, Henan province and is illustrated in Da Huanghe wen ming zhan, Tokyo, 1998, p. 127, no. 98. Although the Falk Jun vase is rather smaller and its body is a little more pear-shaped than the Henan vase, the influence is apparent. There was a significant link between Ru and Jun wares; indeed, some Jun-type pieces were made at the Baofengxian kilns. The link is particularly strong with plain blue Jun wares, without copper splash, as in the case of the Falk vase.