A very rare Jun bottle vase, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014
The vase is finely potted with a pear-shaped body rising from a short splayed foot to a long slightly flared neck, covered with a thick even glaze of milky-blue tone suffused with broad faint crackles, thinning to mushroom at the rim and stopping irregularly above the foot, exposing the orange-brown biscuit. Two areas on the mouth rim are covered with gold lacquer repair adorned with lotus blooms. 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm.) high. Estimate HK$4,000,000 - HK$6,000,000 ($518,291 - $777,436). Price Realized HK$5,320,000 ($689,166)
Provenance: Sir Herbert Ingram (1875-1958)
Exhibited: The Oriental Ceramic Society, Sung Dynasty Wares. Chun and Brown Glazes, London, 1 to 31 May 1952, Catalogue, no. 2
Notes: While the majority of Jun wares are sturdily potted in utilitarian forms, vases of this elegant shape with long slender necks are very rare, possibly due to the inherent difficulties to be fired successful. This remarkably potted vase was probably made at the Wugongshan kiln in the south of Linru County, which appears to have produced the highest quality Jun wares during the Song dynasty.
Similar vases of this rare form and plain blue glaze are preserved in important museums and collections. An almost identical example with lipped rim is in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Song Dynasty (I), The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 217; another is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Grand View: Special Exhibition of Ju Ware from the Northern Sung Dynasty, Taipei, 2006, p. 71, fig. 2. A vase of similar size but with a slightly less slender neck is in the Percival David Foundation, included in Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1999, no. 80. Another example with a lipped rim is in the Tokyo National Museum, included in Special Exhibition Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1994, Catalogue, no. 171. There was also a smaller bottle vase with very similar glaze, also suffused with broad faint crackles, but with a broader and shorter neck in the Falk Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 16 October 2001, lot 72.
Two Jun vases of similar size and shape, but with purple splashes, have been published, one in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated in by R. Scott, Imperial Taste. Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, San Francisco, 1989, pl. 14; the other from the Manno Art Museum, illustrated in Selected Masterpieces of the Manno Collection, Japan, 1988, pl. 98. It is believed that these Jun wares splashed with copper oxide are dated slightly later than the present vase with plain blue glaze.
Adding to the significance of this present vase is its rich opalescent blue glaze, which carries a strong link with imperial Ru wares of similar form and hue, produced in close proximity to the Jun kilns during the Northern Song period. Compare for example to a Ru bottle vase with a more bulbous body, but nevertheless with a similar soft crackled bluish-grey glaze, included in the National Palace Museum exhibition, ibid, pl. 11.
Christie's. THE SOUND OF JADE AND THE SHADOW OF A CHRYSANTHEMUM - 28 May 2014, Hong Kong - http://www.christies.com/