An exceptionally rare and superb 'Jun' purple-splashed flowerpot, Ming dynasty, early 15th century

Ralph M. Chait, New York.

Collection of Dr. Walter Read Hovey (1895-1981), prior to 1973.

Gifted to the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1973 (accession no. 73.48.58).

Glowing with a captivating palette of vibrant pinks and royal purples, the present lot is a rare example of the much-coveted ‘numbered Jun’ wares and a testament to the artistic vision and sheer opulence of the early Ming court.

Beloved by emperors and collectors alike, the term ‘Jun’ remains shrouded in mystery. Traditionally grouped among the ‘Five Famous Wares’ of the Song dynasty, Jun pieces are typified by their thick sumptuous glazes of dazzling opalescent tone. Unlike other traditional glazes of their time, the color of Jun wares relies not only on the iron oxide pigments found in the glaze itself but also on microscopic bubbles of lime-rich glass formed in the intense reduction firing process. Scattering blue light and producing an enchanting purple tone, this bubbled glaze has continued to be reproduced for centuries in a variety of kiln sites across modern-day Henan, Hebei and Shanxi provinces. 

Despite, or indeed because of, the widespread appeal of these pieces, the term ‘Jun’ has been adopted by connoisseurs to describe a wide variety of opalescent wares. Quite distinct from the purple-splashed Jun wares typically attributed to the Northern Song (960–1127) and Jin (1115–1234) dynasties, the so-called ‘numbered’ or ‘official’ Jun pieces of the early Ming represent a marked departure in terms of quality, opulence and rarity. These wares, of a particularly fine clay-body, are adorned with a dazzling thick glaze which seems to ripple across their smooth surface in ‘worm tracks,’ and are inscribed at the base with numerals from one to ten – apparently indicative of their relative size and corresponding stands. Unlike earlier wares, hand-thrown at a variety of sites for a broad consumer market, archaeological and textual evidence suggests that these ‘official’ pieces were likely cast en masse from molds at the famed Juntai kilns of Henan, from which all Jun wares derive their name. With a marked consistency in quality and form and no known examples found outside of a kiln site or Beijing palace context, it seems highly likely that this group was produced directly for the Ming court. As Jessica Harrison-Hall argues, given the method of construction using double molds did not exist until the early 15th century, it seems highly likely that these rare pieces were commissioned by the Yongle and Xuande emperors for the newly built Ming palaces in Beijing where they were displayed and admired throughout the ensuing centuries; see Ming. 50 Years That Changed China, British Museum, London, 2014, pp 92-97. 

Early depictions of these grand pots in court paintings further support this imperial attribution. Compare a bulb bowl of this ‘official’ style, depicted in the anonymous hanging scroll The Eighteen Scholars, attributed to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition The Enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 2014, p. 39 (top); and a barbed jardinière painted in the anonymous handscroll Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden from 1437, which depicts the court official Yang Rong (1371-1440) during a gathering of scholars at his home in Beijing. The painting, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was included in the seminal Ming exhibition at the British Museum, op. cit., cat. no. 164.

To date, fourteen official Jun shapes have been identified, each attested in a range of numbered sizes, including a flowerpot of fluted zhadou (‘spitoon’) form, from which the present design appears to have been derived. Compare a closely related zhadou flowerpot from the Poon Family Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms for more than 10.2 million Hong Kong dollars, 16th October 2024, lot 808 (Fig. 1); and another from the celebrated Dane Collection of numbered Jun, now preserved the Harvard Art Museums (accession. no. 1942.185.38). Although perhaps initially ground down out of necessity as a result of an ill-fired neck, the understated rim and globular form of the present lot has been similarly treasured as a distinct and desirable style in its own right at least since the Qing dynasty. Compare two further examples of numbered Jun zhadou with reduced necks preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pls 10 and 14; and another of lighter blue tone preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2013, pl. 107; a fourth from the Walters Collection in S. W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1896, pl. XCIV; and a fifth from the Eumorfopolous Collection, illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection. Catalogue of the Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. III, London, 1926, cat. no. C3, pl. III.