SONG DYNASTY

Details

A Junyao 'lotus-bud' waterpot
Song dynasty
The elegantly rounded sides rising to a narrow mouth, covered overall with a generous milky-blue glaze draining to a mushroom tone around the rim and stopping short of the brown-dressed slightly flaring foot
11 cm. high

Special notice

Christie's charge a premium to the buyer on the final bid price of each lot sold at the following rates: 23.8% of the final bid price of each lot sold up to and including €150,000 and 14.28% of any amount in excess of €150,000. Buyers' premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Sale room notice

Please note that lot 401 is the waterpot, and the ewer should read 400.

Lot Essay

Jun water containers of this elegant form are apparently inspired by a lotus bud and are well represented in public and private collections, including some with their original covers, such as the example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 242, no. 218, and one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S. Valenstein, Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, rev. ed. 1989, p. 87, no. 79. Other similar Jun jars are illustrated by J. Ayers, Baur Collection, Geneva, 1968, vol. I, no. A30; the Eumorfopoulos Collection, Catalogue, London, 1926, vol. II, pl. XXVI, no. B88; W. Hochstadter, Early Chinese Ceramics in the Buffalo Museum of Science, no. 62; in the exhibition of the Hong Kong Kau Chi Society, Ancient Chinese Ceramics, 1981, no. 25; and in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1980, no. 167; R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.I, London, 1994, p.223, nrs. 392-393. And the example from the Robert Chang Collection, sold in our New York rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 150.

More from Asian Art

View All