Lot 2812. A rare 'numbered four' Jun bracket-lobed narcissus bowl, Yuan-Ming dynasty, 14th-15th century; 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm.) wide. Estimate HK$ 5,000,000 – HK$7,000,000 ($648,180 - $907,452). Price realised HKD 5,080,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The sides of the bowl are evenly moulded into six petal lobes rising to an everted, conforming lobed mouth rim, resting on three ruyi-shaped feet. The exterior and interior are covered with a milky lavender-blue glaze thinning to mushroom on the raised edges and some 'worm trail'. The base is covered with a brown wash with fine spur marks along the edges, and incised with the numeral, si, 'four', Japanese wood box

Provenance: Dr. T.H. Shire (d. 1976)
Bluett & Sons, London
Bonhams London, 7 Novermber 2005, Lot 5

Literature: Oriental Ceramics Society of London, Sung Dynasty Wares. Chun and Brown Glazes, 1952, p. , fig. 41
Christie's, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 78-79, no. 24

Exhibited: Oriental Ceramics Society of London, Sung Dynasty Wares. Chun and Brown Glazes, 1952, Catalogue, no. 41
Christie's, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November 2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013, Catalogue, no. 24

Note: Dr. T.H. Shire served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and was with the Allied forces when Hong Kong was liberated. Subsequently he was sent to Shanghai to care for and evacuate Allied prisoners of war, and while there he formed the basis of his collection of Chinese porcelain, see R. David and D. Jellinek, Provenance, Collectors, Dealers and Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America, 2011, p. 398.

The present bowl belongs to a group of Jun vessels comprising zun-shaped vases with prominent flanges, flower pots, and narcissus bowls, where each vessel has been incised or stamped with a Chinese numeral on the base. The numbers range from one to ten, and according to the Nanyao biji (Notes of the Nanyao), composed during the Qianlong reign, the numbers are indications for pairing flower pots with stands. In recent years, scholars have also noted that the numbers appear to have an indirectly proportional relationship with the sizes of the vessels, with ten representing the smallest and one the largest. Jun narcissus bowls of this group appear in three styles, and is traditionally catalogued as 'brush washers', though the function of these bowls might well be stands of flower pots. The first has a circular mouth rim with drum-nail bosses on the exterior such as the 'number nine' example from the R.F.A. Riesco Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3102. The second style has of six-petalled lobes such as the bowl sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 June 2015, lot 3121; and the third has moulded six bracket lobes at the flatterned rim, such as the present example. The only other known narcissus bowl with six bracket lobes incised with the numeral four, appears to be a moon-white glaze bowl in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, p. 114-115, no. 40, measuring 22.5 cm. diam. 

There are three bowls of this bracket-lobed form, catalogued as a brush washers, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 34-36, nos. 29-31. Three further examples are in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Chun Ware, A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, 1999, pp. 108-113, nos. 37-39, with rose-red glaze (number two); azure and aubergine glaze (number three); and moon-white glaze (number three) respectively. A 'number three' of rose-purple glaze pairing with a bracket-lobed flower pot in Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums is illustrated by Stephan Wolohojian, ed., Harvard Art Museum Handbook, Cambridge, 2008, p. 55. Several other bracket-lobed bowls were sold at auction, one from the George Eumorfopoulos Collection, ‘number two’ (24.1 cm. diam.), sold at Christie’s London, 15 June 1998, lot 87; one from the Robert Chang Collection, 'number seven' (21.1 cm. diam.), sold at Christie's New York, 26 March 2003, lot 227; and the other one from Edward T. Chow Collection, ‘number nine’ (19.7 cm. diam.), sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30 April 1996, lot 305. 

Christie's. THE CLASSIC AGE OF CHINESE CERAMICS - THE LINYUSHANREN COLLECTION, PART I, 2 December 2015, Convention Hall