NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (960-1127)

Details

A LARGE JUN DISH
NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (960-1127)
The shallow dish is well potted with rounded sides rising to the slightly inverted rim encircled on the exterior by a finger-molded band. The dish is covered overall with a pale lavender-blue glaze which thins to mushroom at the rim, and continues onto the countersunk base which has five spur marks.
11 ½ in. (29.1 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box

Provenance

Eskenazi, London.

Literature

Christie's, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 64-65, no. 16.
Rosemary Scott, ‘Chinese Classic Wares from a Japanese Collection: Song Ceramics from the Linyushanren Collection’, Arts of Asia, March-April 2014, pp. 97-108, fig. 18.

Exhibited

Christie's, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November 2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013.

Lot Essay

The success of such a gracefully restrained vessel as the present dish requires absolute mastery of the glaze during the firing process; there can be no distractions from the simplicity of the form and the luminosity of the glaze. To maintain this simplicity and ensure maximum glaze coverage, including on the foot, the dish was raised on five tiny spurs for firing. The unusually large dimensions of the present dish presented an additional challenge; the result is a rare treasure of serenity and elegance.

A dish of similar size, also fired on five small spurs, but with a wider foot ring is illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, p. 152-153, no. 58. Another similar Jun dish, but of smaller size (19.7 cm. diam.) and with a flattened rim is illustrated ibid., pp. 144-145, no. 54.

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