An outstanding mallow-shaped Junyao Imperial flowerpot and matching stand. Early Ming dynasty

the flowerpot of hexagonal section superbly potted with deep bracket-lobed sides flaring to an everted rim, all veiled in a brilliant milky-lavender glaze draining to a mushroom colour along the rim, between the lobes and at five pierced drainage holes in the well, while turning purple in places, the unglazed footrim burnt a chocolate colour around the countersunk base incised with the numeral jiu, nine, the matching lobed narcissus bowl of conforming section supported on three ruyi-shaped feet, similarly covered throughout in a lavender glaze with milky suffusions and strong purplish highlights characterised by 'worm-tracks' where thickening on the interior, the base with a circle of small spur marks and conformingly incised with the numeral jiu (2) - flowerpot 22.2cm., 8 3/4 in., narcissus bowl 20.2cm., 8in - Lot Sold. 7,220,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th May 2002, lot 520.

NOTE: It is extremely rare to find a Junyao flower pot with matching stand and no other set of this form appears to have been published. Only two sets of Junyao flower pots and stands appear so far to be published, both of rectangular section with a purple glaze and inscribed with the numeral shi ('ten'); one in the Percival David Foundation, London, illustrated in R.L. Hobson, A Catalogue of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain in the Collection of Sir Percival David Bt.., F.S.A., London, 1934, pl. LXXVIII; the other reputedly from the Imperial Palace collection at Mukden, later in the collections of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, New York, and the J.T. Tai Foundation, sold in our New York rooms, 2^nd-5^th May 1972, lot 476, and again in these rooms, 21^st May 1985, lot 5, and included in the exhibition 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1998.

A larger blue-glazed flower pot of this mallow form, inscribed with the numeral wu ('five'), is included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum: Ju Ware, Kuan Ware, Chün Ware, Taipei, 1973, pl. 56; and another from the collection of the T.Y. Chao Trust was sold in our London rooms, 17^th November 1999, lot 719.

A blue-glazed stand of the same form, and inscribed with the same numeral as the present piece, jiu, from the collection of Richard Bennett and later the Eumorfopoulos collection, sold in our London rooms, 29^th May 1940, lot 196, is illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. 3, London, 1926, pl. VI, no. C19.

The dating of the 'Jun' ware flower receptacles in mould-made shapes, inscribed on the base with numbers from one to ten, usually glazed in striking tones of bright blue and purple, has long been debated. In the past, two different schools of thought proposed datings either to the Northern Song (12^th century) or to the Yuan/early Ming (14^th-15^th century). The Northern Song date was supported by the discovery of a mould fragment for coins inscribed with the Xuanhe reign name (1119-1125), reputedly excavated at the kiln sites together with fragments of numbered 'Jun' vessels and said to be made of the same clay. However, the dating of this coin mould has recently been dismissed as incorrect at a conference in Shenzhen. A dating to the early Ming dynasty is therefore now largely accepted for this group of vessels, following stylistic comparisons with jardinières, vases and other flower receptacles in celadon and blue-and-white from the Longquan and Jingdezhen kilns, which are more precisely datable. Since many of the 'numbered Jun' wares are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and the Palace Museum, Beijing, from the former Imperial collection and often inscribed with the names of Palace halls, these vessels can now be considered Imperial flower vessels of the Ming court.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 08 Oct 08. Hong Kong - www.sothebys.com - Photo courtesy Sotheby's.