A Superb Purple-Splashed 'Jun' 'Bubble' Bowl. Northern Song Dynasty

the gently rounded sides rising to a slightly incurved rim, resting on a short straight foot, applied overall with a very glossy bubble-suffused glaze of a cyaneous blue tone, the interior with two splashes transmuting from a vivid lavender to a deep ianthine violet, the exterior with two splashes of equal brilliance, the glaze draining from the mouthrim from a greige tone and falling just short of the neatly pared footring revealing the buff body fired ash-grey. 8.5 cm., 3 3/8 in. Estimate 5,000,000—7,000,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: An old Canton Collection.
Sotheby's London, 12th June 2003, lot 107.

NOTE: Purple splashed 'Jun' bowls of this classic Northern Song shape are remarkable for their splendid colouration which displays a range of blue and lavender tones. The copper-red forming distinct colouration of light purple splashes against a bright lavender-blue ground create the perfect illusion of a soap bubble, which gave these bowls the name 'bubble bowl'. Rose Kerr in Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, p. 34, notes that the splashes found on 'Jun' wares are made with the application of copper brushwork to dry glazes in broad strokes or washes, which then merged with the bluish 'Jun' glazes at full heat. This copper painting provided a striking contrast to the thick bright blue glaze beneath giving each vessel decorated in this manner its unique design. Bowls of this type derive their aesthetic beauty from their elegant shape and magnificent rich glaze.

The present bowl is comparable with the two famous 'Jun' bubble bowls from the Edward T. Chow collection, perhaps the best extant examples, both sold in our London rooms, 16th December 1980, lots 264 and 265, and again in these rooms, the former on 19th May 1987, lot 209, and later in the T.T. Tsui collection; the latter on 7th June 2000, lot 93.

Other very fine 'Jun' bubble bowls of the more frequently found type with fewer purple splashes on a predominantly bright blue glaze are in the British Museum, London, from the collection of Sir Percival David, illustrated in Margaret Medley, The Chinese Potter, Oxford, 1976, fig. 83; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from the Eumorfopoulos collection, acquisition no. C844-1936, also on display in the Museum; and in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 225.

Compare also a bowl in the Baur Collection, Geneva, included in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva; Chinese Ceramics, vol. 1, Geneva, 1969, nos. A31 and A32.

'Jun' bubble bowls can also be found in Japanese collections where they were appreciated for their understated elegance. A bowl from the Schoenlicht and H. M. Knight collections, sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1955, lot 76, and in these rooms, 18th May 1982, lot 109, and now in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, is included in Toyo toji meihin zuroku, Tokyo, 1991, pl. 52. Another vessel of this type, its surface almost completely covered in purple splashes, formerly in the collections of Richard Bennett and George Eumorfopoulos, and illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese. Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1926, pl. XXVII, fig. B83, was sold in our London rooms, 8th November 2006, lot 55.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 08 Apr 09. Hong Kong www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's