Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK
A rare Jun-type purple glazed tea bowl, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644)
Lot 8029. A rare Jun-type purple glazed tea bowl, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644); 3 1/4in (8.3cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 15,000 - 20,000 (€ 12,000 - 16,000). © Bonhams 2001-2018
Well-potted with gently rounded sides curving in slightly just below the everted rim, the exterior covered in a rich mottled purple glaze, extending over the rim into the interior where it transitions to a milky-blue glaze, which also covers the foot, except for the unglazed dark-brown foot ring.
Provenance: Collection of of Hidenari Terasaki (1900-1951), thence by descent
Note: The combination of sky blue and vivid purple glaze coloration relates this bowl to the Junyao group of ceramics, recorded at kiln excavations and documented burials from the Song through Ming periods. Its function as a tea bowl is indicated by the indented lip on its exterior walls, a distinctive feature of tea bowls inaugurated at the Jian kilns of Fujian in the Song period and copied at kilns throughout northern and southern China.
Tea bowls of identical shape to this lot have yet to be published from Jun kiln excavations or burials in the past few years. However a dish with the same contrasting reddish-purple and sky blue glaze, subtle shape and careful potting comparable to this tea bowl was discovered during excavations at the Juntai kiln site in Henan carried out in 2004. The dish was included in the Palace Museum study Jun ci ya ji: gugong bowu yuan zhencang ji chutu junyao ciqi huicui[Selection of Jun Ware: the Palace Museum's collection and archeological excavation] (Beijing, 2013), cat. No. 117, pp. 264-265 (as Yuan-early Ming dynasty, diameter 18.8cm); and appeared earlier in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji: vol. 12: Henan (2008), cat. No 211 (as Jun type and dated as Yuan dynasty, 18.8cm diameter). See also the Jun-type purple glazed tea bowl of slightly different shape, related to the 2013 study of the Palace Museum Jun wares and sold in Christie's Hong Kong sale 3372, 26 November 2014, lot 2925, (as Xuande period).
Other shards from the 2004 Juntai kiln site excavation match the group of 'numbered Jun' containers with purple and pale blue glazes preserved in the former Qing imperial collections, various museums and private collections throughout the world. There is no agreement at present on the dating of this group, but thermoluminescence testing on the shards from the 2004 excavation and comparable tomb finds suggest Yuan or early Ming date for the 'numbered' Jun group and, by extension, this tea bowl (see Laurie E. Barnes, 'Yuan Dynasty Ceramics', pp. 338-34, published in Li Zhiyin et al, Chinese Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty [Yale University Press, 2010]).
This bowl appears to be the "Chungyao" bowl mentioned in Gwen Terasaki's biography, Bridge to the Sun, Rock Creek Books, 2017, pp.51, 96, 97, 216.