.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This narcissus bowl is potted with a well-proportioned body and covered with an even moon-white glaze. The base is inscribed with the character liu, meaning six. It belongs to a group of Jun vessels that includes narcissus bowls, flowerpots, and stands, each of which bears a Chinese numeral incised or stamped on the base before firing. The numerals appear to correspond proportionally to the sizes of the vessels, with ten representing the smallest and one the largest.
Among these numbered Jun vessels, those marked with the numeral six are exceptionally rare. Only a handful of examples bearing this inventory number have been published or appeared on the market. Only one other Jun moon-white glazed narcissus bowl marked with the numeral six appears to be known, which was sold at Sotheby’s New York on 20 March 2002, lot 208. Compare also with three other narcissus bowls in purple and lavender-blue glaze marked with numeral six, one is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (accession number: 1942.660), the other in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (accession number: 60.27.3), the third was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 5 April 2017, lot 1107.
Compare a further purple-splashed blue-glazed mallow-form narcissus bowl marked with numeral six in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware of the Sung Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1961, p.61, no. 18 (fig. 1).
See two other Jun moon-white glazed narcissus bowls of this shape but incised with the numeral wu (five) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pp.102-107, no.34 (fig. 2) and no.35.
Among these numbered Jun vessels, those marked with the numeral six are exceptionally rare. Only a handful of examples bearing this inventory number have been published or appeared on the market. Only one other Jun moon-white glazed narcissus bowl marked with the numeral six appears to be known, which was sold at Sotheby’s New York on 20 March 2002, lot 208. Compare also with three other narcissus bowls in purple and lavender-blue glaze marked with numeral six, one is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (accession number: 1942.660), the other in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (accession number: 60.27.3), the third was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 5 April 2017, lot 1107.
Compare a further purple-splashed blue-glazed mallow-form narcissus bowl marked with numeral six in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware of the Sung Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1961, p.61, no. 18 (fig. 1).
See two other Jun moon-white glazed narcissus bowls of this shape but incised with the numeral wu (five) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pp.102-107, no.34 (fig. 2) and no.35.