Lot 68. A fine purple-splashed 'Jun' 'bubble' bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 8.5cm., 3 1/2 in. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 GBP. Lot sold 87,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

the gently rounded sides rising from a short straight foot to a slightly incurved rim, applied overall with a glossy bubble-suffused pale-blue glaze, with deep-lavender splashes, the glaze draining from the mouth rim from a mushroom tone and falling just short of the foot revealing the reddish-brown body - 

Provenance: Acquired from John Sparks Ltd., London in the 1930s (by repute).
George Harwood Snr, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Thence by descent.

Note: Purple-splashed Jun bowls of this classic Northern Song shape are remarkable for their understated elegance, offset by splendid colouration displaying a range of blue and lavender tones. The vibrant colours, glossy glaze and rounded shape on the current bowl successfully create the illusion of a soap bubble, hence their ‘bubble bowl’ name. Rose Kerr inSong Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, p. 34, notes that the splashes found on ‘Jun’ wares are made with the application of copper brushwork or washes, which then merge with the bluish ‘Jun’ glazes at full heat. This provides a striking contrast to the thick bright blue glaze beneath, giving each vessel decorated in this manner its unique design.

Compare a splashed bubble bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 225; and another from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter, Oxford, 1976, fig. 83. Two Jun splashed bubble bowls from the Edward T. Chow collection, amongst the best extant examples, were sold in our London rooms, 16th December 1980, the first, lot 264, sold again in these rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 209, from the T.T. Tsui collection, the second, lot 265, sold in our London rooms, 7th June 2000, lot 93; and a single bowl was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3686.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Londres, 11 november 2015, 11:00 AM