A RARE 'JUN' BOTTLE VASE SONG DYNASTY

the body of pear shape rising from a short spreading foot to an elegantly flaring narrow cylindrical neck, covered overall with a soft lavender-blue glaze suffused with a light crackle and draining to a buff tone at the rim, all falling short of the footring to reveal the dark purplish-brown body

Sung Dynasty Wares. Chun and Brown Glazes, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1952, cat.no. 2.

Basil Grey, Sung Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1984, pl. 65.

'Jun' vases of this elegant slender bottle form are extremely rare among 'Jun' vessels, possibly due to the difficulties involved with potting and the application of the usually thick 'Jun' glaze. Only a few related examples can be found in important museum collections. See one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Song Ceramics, London, 2004, pp. 32-33, pl. 21, where the author notes that the vase is similar in form to Cizhou vases dating from the Jin dynasty. Another vase of this type, attributed to the Song dynasty, in the Jiguchen Museum, is published in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 7, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 190; one in the Tokyo National Museum is included in Basil Grey, Sung Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1984, pl. 65; and a fourth example, from the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 217.

Compare also a 'Ding' bottle of similar size and shape, possibly the inspiration for 'Jun' wares of this type, sold in these rooms, 6th June 1971, lot 64, and again at Christie's Tokyo, 16/17th February 1980, lot 741.