Made in imitation of Song dynasty Guan ware, the sides flaring widely from above a slightly tapering foot to the rim which is divided into six lobes, covered inside and out with a pale slightly greyish blue-green glaze suffused with black crackle ('iron wire') joined by some golden crackle ('golden thread') which falls to the edge of the neatly cut ring foot to show the dark grey ware covered in a russet dressing, the inside of the foot and base similarly glazed,box.

Provenance: Stephen Junkunc III. 

Note: For a discussion of the Qing interest in classic ceramic wares of the past, particularly the crackled wares of Guan, Ge and Ru type, see the footnote to the preceding lot, 384.

The Guan-type glaze on the current dish is especially successful, reproducing the irregular crackle and slight translucency of the glaze to very good effect, even on the base of the dish. As can be seen with several Guan-ware dishes illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1989, nos. 125-31, the shape is very faithful to the Song-dynasty originals, as is the dark stoneware body and cut of the foot..