明初 鈞窰月白釉鼓釘洗 足內刻《三》字 |

東京出光美術館收藏

口沿一處約2x2公分修補，髹補範圍約6公分。口沿及器內有輕微剝釉。
我們很高興為您提供上述拍品狀況報告。由於敝公司非專業修復人員，在此敦促您向其他專業修復人員索取諮詢，以獲得更詳盡、專業之報告。

準買家應該檢查每款拍品以確認其狀況，蘇富比所作的任何陳述均為專業主觀看法而非事實陳述。準買家應參考有關該拍賣的重要通知（見圖錄）。

雖然本狀況報告或有針對某拍品之討論，但所有拍賣品均根據印於圖錄內之業務規則以拍賣時狀況出售。

This narcissus bowl radiates the essence of Jun ware which derived its beauty from their robust forms which were coated in a contrasting luminous thick glaze of varied moon-white colouration that becomes almost transparent around the edges of the vessel where the glaze thins significantly. On the present bowl the glossy glaze is reminiscent of a hazy blue sky, infused with the characteristic markings that have become known as ‘earthworm tracks'.

Highly prized throughout Chinese dynastic history since their production, these striking vessels were produced in a variety of proportions and glaze colours and are found in some of the most important museums and private collections of Chinese art. Bowls of this type also incised with the character san (three), include two deep-lavender glazed examples, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, pls 32 and 33, together with further examples inscribed with different numbers, pls 27-31 and 34-36; and another, from the collection of Captain Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson, The Mount Trust, sold twice at Christie’s Hong Kong in 1991 and 1996, again in our London rooms in 2003, and a fourth time in our New York rooms, 23rd March 2011, lot 514.

Further bowls of this type, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated in Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum's Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2013, pls 94-96, 113, 115 and 116, together with fragments excavated from the kiln site, pls 97-98 and one excavated in Yuzhou city (pl. 114 and p. 343, figs 12-1 and 12-2); and another, incised with the numeral si (four) from the Dr W. Kilgenberg and Reach Family collections, included in the exhibition Chinese Art from the Reach Family Collection, Eskenazi, London, 1989, cat. no. 24, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th April 1997, lot 696, again in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 590, and a third time in our London rooms, 11th November 2015, lot 81. See also a blue-glazed bowl from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 210.

The form of this bowl, also known as ‘drum nail’ basins, belongs to a distinct group of flower receptacles known as ‘numbered Jun’ wares, mostly made in moulds and generally inscribed on the base with numerals from one to ten that seem to correspond to the size of the vessels. The dating of these wares has been long debated and continues to divide opinions between a Northern Song (960-1127), late Yuan (1279-1368) and early Ming (1368-1644) attribution.

The Northern Song date, adhered to by many eminent Chinese scholars, was supported by a surface find near the kiln sites of a mould fragment for coins bearing the Xuanhe reign name (1119-1125), made of Jun ware clay. However, at scholarly conferences on the subject in Yuzhou in 2005 and in Shenzhen in 2006 the date of the coin mould itself has come under scrutiny and was basically discredited, since it was shown not to be a mould for actual coins of that period and to bear a spurious reign mark of an even earlier period on the reverse. Scientific tests of sherds undertaken by the Shanghai Museum have pointed to a late Yuan or early Ming date. A newly discovered Jun ewer very similar in shape to a gold ewer from the tomb of King Zhuang of Liang, buried in 1441, has also been offered as evidence for a later dating.

Since a large body of 'numbered Jun' wares remains in the Chinese imperial collection both in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and the Palace Museum, Beijing, often inscribed after firing with the names of Palace halls, a Yuan date seems less likely, as virtually no Yuan ceramics formed part of the Qing court collection. The production of these flower vessels fits better into the early Ming dynasty, and they may well have been officially commissioned for the newly built imperial palace in Beijing in the Yongle period (1403-1424). Furthermore, these vessels do not appear in any pre-Ming text or painting, and their form is similar to early Ming celadon-glazed flower vessels, such as one included in the exhibition Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 39.