YUAN-MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Vases are quite rare among Jun wares, possibly because of the difficulties inherent in firing them successfully. There were two main vase forms were made in the Song-Yuan periods. These are both pear-shaped vases, one with a waisted neck, which flares slightly towards the mouth, and the other with an almost cylindrical neck, which is everted at the mouth. The present vase is more closely related to the first type, which is typified by two vases in the Percival David Foundation. One is plain blue and is illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, Percival David Foundation, London, 1999, p. 38, no. 80, while the other is splashed with copper purple and is illustrated by R. Scott in Imperial Taste - Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, San Francisco, 1989, p. 38, no. 14.

The present vase also bears a tall, unglazed foot, similar to one found on a Yuan dynasty jun bowl in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji: 12, Junyao (The Great Treasury of Chinese Ceramics: vol. 12, Jun wares), Shanghai, 1983, no. 50.