Hexagonal flower pot stand. Stoneware body covered in blue and purple glazes with olive-green on base. Numbered or Official Jun ware 官鈞窯. Juntai, Yuxian, Henan province 河南省, 禹縣, 鈞台. Ming dynasty, about AD 1368–1435. On loan from Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. PDF 39 © Trustees of the British Museum

Height: 59 mm. Width: 167 mm. Official Jun stoneware flower pot stand of elongated hexagonal form, with curved sides, flattened everted mouthrim, and six cloud-shaped feet. The stand has opalescent blue glaze on the interior, with blue glaze coloured purple with in-glaze copper pigment on exterior. The glaze has split in several places on the interior of the bowl leaving 'earthworm marks'. There is an inscription, and eighteen small spur marks, on the base.

This flower pot stand has six faceted sides and four cloud-shaped feet. Its base has a ring of uneven spur marks and the Chinese character十 shi meaning ten incised in the base before firing. It has been suggested that the numbers refer to sizes, with one the largest and ten the smallest size, which would help to match flower pots and stands. Unlike earlier Jun wares, which are often highlighted with contrasting purple splashes, these later wares feature blue or purple opalescent glazes without splashes of contrasting colours. Furthermore in contrast to earlier Jun wares, these numbered flower vessels are shaped by moulding.

Bibliographic reference: Hobson, Robert L, A Catalogue of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain in the Collection of Sir Percival David Bt., F.S.A., London, The Stourton Press, 1934

Yorke Hardy, Sheila, Tung, Ju, Kuan, Chun, Kuang-tung & Glazed I-hsing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1953

Pierson, Stacey, Illustrated catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1999