A fine and rare 'Jun' Purple-Splashed dish.  Song Dynasty. Photo Sotheby's

sturdily potted with low sides and lipped everted rim, applied overall with a pale lavender-blue glaze thinning to a mushroom colour at the rim, the interior liberally splashed with striking purple transmuting in some places to copper-green, the base with three spur marks; 20.3cm., 8in. Estimate 250,000-350,000 GBP. Unsold

NOTE: The present 'Jun' dish is remarkable for its rich and attractively distributed splashes of deep reddish-purple on the soft grey-blue glaze. It retains the elegance and ethereal quality characteristic of 'Jun' wares in its simple form and thick translucent glaze, while capturing a sense of spontaneity through the vibrant splashes. These multi-hued splashes also create an added sense of depth and movement through their irregular forms and gradation of colour that has been skilfully achieved by careful manipulation of the pigment and firing process. Liberally splashed pieces such as  the present dish appear to have particularly appealed to the elite from the Jin period (1115-1234) due to their resemblance with calligraphy and continued to inspire the decoration of later vessels.

A related dish of slightly larger dimensions is illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum. Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, pl. 57; and another was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th October 2002, lot 300. Compare two slightly smaller dishes illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pls 226 and 230; two examples from the collection of William Cleverly Alexander, sold in these rooms, 6th May 1931, lots 144 and 150, the former sold most recently in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th November 1998, lot 857, and the latter now in the Sir Percival David collection held in the British Museum, London, published in Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, col. pl. 17. See also a magnificent splashed 'Jun' dish included in the exhibition The World of Ceramics, The Cleveland Museum of Art,The World of Ceramics, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1982, cat. no. 105; and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30th October 2002, lot 300, and again in these rooms, 10th November 2010, lot 182. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 09 Nov 2011 www.sothebys.com