the deep flaring sides rising from a splayed foot to a slightly incurved rim, covered overall in a rich sky-blue glaze punctuated with two vivid crimson-purple splashes to the interior, thinning to a dark-brown flecked mushroom tone at the rim, the underside liberally glazed in a bubble-suffused purple color transmuting to sky-blue at the rim, stopping unevenly above the foot unglazed to reveal the buff-orange body. Diameter 7 3/4  in., 19.7 cm

Notes: Purple-splashed Jun bowls of this classic Northern Song shape are remarkable for their splendid coloration which displays a wide range of red and lavender tones. Rose Kerr in Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, p. 34, notes that the splashes found on Jun wares are made by applying broad strokes or washes of copper to dry bluish glazes, which then merged when fired. This copper painting provided a striking contrast with the thick bright blue glaze beneath and resulted in unique designs. While copper-splashed blue-glazed bowls are a characteristic product of the Jun kilns of Henan, bowls with such exquisite overall magenta coloring on the outside are unusual.

A bowl of this type, from the collection of Sir Edward Stern and Montague Meyer, was sold at Christie’s London, 14th April 1980, lot 239, and again in these rooms, 16th September 2014, lot 4; and another was sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1988. Compare also bowls of similar conical form decorated with bright copper splashes on both the interior and exterior; one from the Eumorfopoulos collection, sold twice in our London rooms, 29th May 1940, lot 193, and 10th November 2004, lot 541; a slightly larger bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 47; and a slightly smaller example, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. Ju Ware, Kuan Ware, Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pl. 87.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 13 sept. 2016, 10:30 AM