Note: Jun-glazed jardinieres, or flower pots, with stands of matching numbers appear to be extremely rare. The Tianjin Municipal Museum of Art has a flower pot stand of the same lobed mallow-petal form as the current jardiniere with an impressed number, san, 'three', on its base, illustrated in Tianjin shi yishu bowuguan cangci, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 37. A similar blue-glazed jardiniere, inscribed with numeral 'five' is illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, pl. 23, together with a larger one, bearing the numeral 'one', pl. 21.

According to R. Scott in Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art: A Guide to the Collection, London, 1989, p. 64, twin moulds were used in the production of lobed jardinieres like the current example, which would have facilitated the making of the flanged rims and lobed walls. The author also suggests the numbers on these jardinieres are indicative of their relative sizes, and a comparable jardiniere incised with the number 'two', from the Percival David Foundation, now housed in the British Museum, is illustrated in the same publication.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale,  Hong Kong, 30 May 2012