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Lot Essay
A number of Jun ware vessels, mainly the bulb bowls, flower pots and stands, bear Chinese numerals stamped into their bases under the glaze. These numbers have been the subject of much scholarly debate. The numbers range from one to ten, and judging from the examples in the major museum collections and those examined from the excavations at the Juntai kilns, Yuxian (Henan province), the numbers relate to the size of the vessels. Ten represents the smallest size and one the largest, although it must be said that the sizes of pieces with the same numeral are not always identical. Texts of the Qing period such as the Nan yao biji suggest that the numbers relate to pairs, and while this is too narrow a definition, matching sets of flower pots and stands do indeed bear the same number. The Yinliuzhai shuoci and the Taoya both suggest that the numbers relate to the decoration, with monochrome pieces bearing even numbers and splashed examples having odd numbers. This does not appear to be borne out by extant examples. Some scholars have indicated that the numbering system would have facilitated the ordering process for wares that were being produced in considerable numbers, while others believe that these were garden wares for the court, and that the numbering would have been useful in the palace store rooms. It is interesting to note however, that there are far more of the larger vessels in existence than the smaller vessels with larger numerals. This example appears to be one of only few bowls incised with the number 'ten'.
Another stand of this form and size with ruyi-shaped feet and incised with the numeral 'ten', previously in the collection of Robert Chang, was sold in our New York Rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 149.
For others see also one from the Schiller collection, now in the Bristol City Art Gallery, which is illustrated by Hobson and Hetherington, The Art of the Chinese Potter, p. XXXIII, fig. 1; and one with an attractive lavender-tinged sky-blue glaze, inscribed with the number 'nine', is in the Qing Court Collection, Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 23, no. 19. Compare, also, an example complete with matching, tapering rectangular flower pot, in the Percival David Foundation illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 6, no. 49; and R. Krahl, The Anthony de Rothschild Collection of Chinese Ceramics, The Eranda Foundation, 1996, pp. 92-93, no. 52.
Another stand of this form and size with ruyi-shaped feet and incised with the numeral 'ten', previously in the collection of Robert Chang, was sold in our New York Rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 149.
For others see also one from the Schiller collection, now in the Bristol City Art Gallery, which is illustrated by Hobson and Hetherington, The Art of the Chinese Potter, p. XXXIII, fig. 1; and one with an attractive lavender-tinged sky-blue glaze, inscribed with the number 'nine', is in the Qing Court Collection, Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 23, no. 19. Compare, also, an example complete with matching, tapering rectangular flower pot, in the Percival David Foundation illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 6, no. 49; and R. Krahl, The Anthony de Rothschild Collection of Chinese Ceramics, The Eranda Foundation, 1996, pp. 92-93, no. 52.