Lot 83. A rare large green 'Jun' dish, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); diameter 10 1/2 in., 26.7 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 USD. Lot Sold 35,000 USD. photo Sotheby's 2011

well potted with a wide flat center and shallow rounded sides resting on a broad foot rim of narrow tapered section, covered entirely inside and out with a crackled, finely pitted grayish-green glaze falling in thick drops of bluish tone on the exterior, the evenly pared foot rim fired to a reddish-brown color, with five spur marks on the glazed base.

Note: The Jun kilns located in the counties of Yu and Linru in Henan province are best known for wares applied with rich opaque pale blue glazes, as exemplified in lot 84. However, they also produced fine wares that were applied with a similarly unctuous glaze of a soft green color as on the present piece. Rare for the color of the glaze, the dish is also unusually large. No other Jun dish of this size and green glaze appears to be known. A related blue-glazed Jun dish of similar size is illustrated in Idemitsu Museum of Art, Exhibition of Sung Ceramics, 1979, no. 70. Similar green-glazed Jun dishes of smaller size are published in Michael Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 35a. Another small green Jun dish from the Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum is illustrated in Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, rev. ed., London, 1999, p. 69, no. A66.

Sotheby's. Informing the Eye of the Collector: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from J.T. Tai & Co. 22 Mar 11. New York