A RARE PURPLE-SPLASHED 'JUN' BOWL NORTHERN SONG – JIN DYNASTY

well potted with gently rounded sides rising to a slightly incurved rim, covered overall in a sky-blue glaze with a mottled splash of deep lavender tone to the interior, the glaze suffused with a pale crackle and transmuting to a mushroom tone around the rim, all resting on a neatly knife-pared foot unglazed revealing the buff-orange body

Collection of Dr and Mrs Marvin L. Gordon, San Francisco.
J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, New York, September 2009.

J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, The Gordon Collection: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 2009, cat. no. 28.

Good overall condition with some minor flakes, especially at the rim (largest 0.2 cm). There are two burst air bubbles at the exterior of the mouthrim (0.4 and 0.3 cm). The colour of the purple splashes has been accurately captured in the catalogue photo but the blue is a more typical paler colour in reality.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Jun' ware, made in kilns of Henan and other provinces, ranks among the Five Great Wares of the Song dynasty (960-1279) and is one of the most famous types of Chinese ceramics.  Purple-splashed 'Jun' bowls of this classic shape are remarkable for their splendid colouration, which display a range of blue and lavender tones. In this particular successful example, the copper-red pigment forms distinct colouration of purple splashes against a bright lavender-blue ground. The brilliant purple splashes on 'Jun' ware vessels were produced by the addition of copper oxides to the unfired glaze for firing in a reduction kiln, a decorative technique that appeared on 'Jun' wares from around the end of the 11th century. In the 2001 excavation of the Jun ware kiln site at Liujiamen, Shenhou, Yuzhou city, Henan, Jun ware shards with large areas of red and purple were found in strata ascribed to the late Northern Song (960-1127), see 'Henan sheng Yuzhou shi Shenhou zhen Liujiamen Junyao yizhi fajue jianbao/Excavation of Jun Kiln at Liujiamen, Yuzhou, Henan’, Wenwu/Cultural Relics, 2003, no. 11, fig. 19. In the same excavation, a shard of a small bowl with rounded sides and a slightly inverted rim, reminiscent of the current bowl, was found in the same stratum, see a line drawing illustrated ibid., p. 34, fig. 15.7.

Although on many 'Jun' pieces a splashed effect is achieved, it is likely that a brush was often used for the application of the copper-based pigment, with brush strokes evident in some cases, such as on a basin discussed in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 674. Such copper-red designs provide a striking contrast to the thick, bright blue glaze underneath, giving each vessel decorated in this manner its unique design.

Jun ware bowls are represented in world-famous collections, such as the British Museum, London, from the collection of Sir Percival David, illustrated in Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter, Oxford, 1976, fig. 83, and in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 225. Compare also two bowls in the Baur Collection, Geneva, included in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva; Chinese Ceramics, vol. 1, Geneva, 1968, nos. A31 and A32.

See also a bowl from the Schoenlicht and H.M. Knight collections, sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1955, lot 76, and in these rooms, 18th May 1982, lot 109, and now in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, included in the Museum’s exhibition Tōyō tōji meihin zuroku [Illustrated Catalogue of Famous Pieces of Oriental Pottery and Porcelain], Tokyo, 1991, pl. 52. Another vessel of this type, its surface almost completely covered in purple splashes, formerly in the collections of Richard Bennett and George Eumorfopoulos, and illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1925-8, pl. XXVII, fig. B 83, was sold in our London rooms, 8th November 2006, lot 55. Two bowls from the Edward T. Chow collection, amongst the best extant examples, were sold in our London rooms, 16th December 1980, lots 264 and 265, and again in these rooms, the former on 19th May 1987, lot 209, and later in the T.T. Tsui collection; the latter on 7th June 2000, lot 93. Compare also a Junyao bowl sold in our London rooms, 11th November 2015, lot 68, and two sold in our New York rooms, 15th September 2010, lots 303 and 308, and included in the exhibition Junyao, Eskenazi, London, 2013, cat. nos. 7 and 8.