Jun brush washer. Yuxian, Henan province. , AD 1280–1368
Jun brush washer. Stoneware with opalescent blue and purple glazes. Height: 47 mm. Width: 60 mm. Depth: 105 mm. Jun ware 鈞窯. Yuxian, Henan province 河南省, 禹縣. Yuan dynasty, AD 1280–1368. On loan from Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. PDF 58. British Museum © The Trustees of the British Museum
Jun stoneware brush-washer with two compartments, one square and one round. The brush-washer has thick, opaque pale blue glaze with pale purple in-glaze copper splashes.
Jun wares are characterised by opalescent blue, purple or even green glazes. Potters decorated the dry, unfired glaze with copper-rich pigment, to create a purple in-glaze splashed effect. Where the glaze runs thin towards the edge of the vessels, it becomes semi-transparent to olive green. Jun wares were made in many kilns throughout Junzhou prefecture (modern Yuzhou or Yuxian) in Henan province from about AD 960 to 1435. Jun wares have relatively coarse stoneware bodies and are regarded as popular rather than imperial wares.
Bibliographic reference: Yorke Hardy, Sheila, Tung, Ju, Kuan, Chun, Kuang-tung & Glazed I-hsing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1953
Pierson, Stacey, Illustrated catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1999