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Lot Essay
The fascination with Jun ware lies in its remarkable glaze, with its lustrous and opalescent qualities, as evident in the present bowl. The bowl belongs to a group of Jun vessels comprising narcissus bowls, flower pots and stands, where each vessel has been incised or stamped with a Chinese numeral on the base before firing. The numbers range from one to ten, and judging from the examples in museums and those examined from the excavations at Juntai, Yuxian, the numbers appear to have a proportional relationship with the sizes of the vessels, with ten representing the smallest and one the largest. Recent research by Chinese scholars has tended to support the idea that these fine quality numbered Jun vessels should date to the Yuan or early Ming dynasty, late 14th to early 15th century.
It may be significant that Jun wares do not appear to have been mentioned in Chinese literature before the Ming dynasty but are mentioned with increasing frequency in the latter part of the Ming dynasty. Interestingly, comparisons with ceramics from other kilns, including some excavated from the imperial Ming kilns at Jingdezhen, suggests that these well-made numbered Jun vessels may have been made for the court in the early Ming dynasty, which would account for the high proportion of extant examples being preserved in the imperial collection. Some of these Jun ware flower vessels have inscriptions incised through the glaze on their bases in addition to the numbers, which indicate the location in which they were used within the Palace during the Qing dynasty.
The Qing court has preserved several similar Jun narcissus bowls incised with the numeral yi (one). Four examples in the Palace Museums, Beijing, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996; one in purple, no. 24 (24.3 cm.), and no. 25 (23.5 cm.), the latter incised with two additional inscriptions recording its use in Jingxixuan in Yingtai, one in moon-white, no. 27 (26.5 cm.) with inscriptions recording its use in Hanyuandian in Yingtai, and one in blue, no. 28 (25.2 cm.) with inscriptions recording its use in The Studio of Forever Spring in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Four narcissus bowls incised with the numeral yi (one) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are illustrated in Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999; no. 27 (25.4 cm.) in moon-white with inscriptions recording its use in Xiangchendian in Yingtai, no. 28, like the present example in lavender-blue (25.5 cm.), no. 29 in grape-purple (27 cm.), and no. 30 in moon-white (25.6 cm.) with inscriptions recording its use in the Changchun shuwu in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, holds the largest and finest assemblage of numbered Jun wares outside the imperial collections in Beijing and Taipei. All 60 of these pieces were given to the museum in 1942 by Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane. Three number yi (one) narcissus bowls of similar shape to the present example are in the group, accession nos. 1942.185.42 (24.1 cm.), 1942.185.43 (24.3 cm.), and 1942.185.44 (24.4 cm.).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has a narcissus bowl of similar shape incised with the number yi (one), accession no. 29.100.205, from the H.O. Havemeyer Collection.
It may be significant that Jun wares do not appear to have been mentioned in Chinese literature before the Ming dynasty but are mentioned with increasing frequency in the latter part of the Ming dynasty. Interestingly, comparisons with ceramics from other kilns, including some excavated from the imperial Ming kilns at Jingdezhen, suggests that these well-made numbered Jun vessels may have been made for the court in the early Ming dynasty, which would account for the high proportion of extant examples being preserved in the imperial collection. Some of these Jun ware flower vessels have inscriptions incised through the glaze on their bases in addition to the numbers, which indicate the location in which they were used within the Palace during the Qing dynasty.
The Qing court has preserved several similar Jun narcissus bowls incised with the numeral yi (one). Four examples in the Palace Museums, Beijing, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996; one in purple, no. 24 (24.3 cm.), and no. 25 (23.5 cm.), the latter incised with two additional inscriptions recording its use in Jingxixuan in Yingtai, one in moon-white, no. 27 (26.5 cm.) with inscriptions recording its use in Hanyuandian in Yingtai, and one in blue, no. 28 (25.2 cm.) with inscriptions recording its use in The Studio of Forever Spring in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Four narcissus bowls incised with the numeral yi (one) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are illustrated in Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999; no. 27 (25.4 cm.) in moon-white with inscriptions recording its use in Xiangchendian in Yingtai, no. 28, like the present example in lavender-blue (25.5 cm.), no. 29 in grape-purple (27 cm.), and no. 30 in moon-white (25.6 cm.) with inscriptions recording its use in the Changchun shuwu in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, holds the largest and finest assemblage of numbered Jun wares outside the imperial collections in Beijing and Taipei. All 60 of these pieces were given to the museum in 1942 by Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane. Three number yi (one) narcissus bowls of similar shape to the present example are in the group, accession nos. 1942.185.42 (24.1 cm.), 1942.185.43 (24.3 cm.), and 1942.185.44 (24.4 cm.).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has a narcissus bowl of similar shape incised with the number yi (one), accession no. 29.100.205, from the H.O. Havemeyer Collection.