Dazzling Jun Wares

un ares W J

鈞窯

耀眼的官窯屬性

Dazzling Official

Rose Kerr 柯玫瑰

Contents

The Unique Nature of Jun Ware Rose Kerr

6

About the Author

12

Image Credits

13

Song, Jin and Yuan dynasty

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Cups, cupstands, bowls and dishes

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Large jars

69

Vases

75

Other shapes

83

Early Ming dynasty Plant pots

93 95

Stands

175

Bulb bowls

223

Zun vases

257

Bibliography

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Chronology

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The Unique Nature of Jun Ware

Rose Kerr

Jun wares are unique for two reasons: their artistry, and their technology. In artistic terms, the appearance of Jun ware is subtle, dramatic and unexpected. In technical terms, Jun ware is complex and ingenious.

The Artistry of Jun Ware To speak first of aesthetics, Song dynasty monochrome glazes represented a peak in world ceramic achievement, and Jun wares stand at the zenith of Chinese glaze technology. Opal-blue Jun wares from north China had a unique appearance that other kilns found difficult to match, and impossible to improve on. They embodied one aspect of Chinese taste for a single, subtle colour, found in one-colour blue or green Jun. Another enduring Chinese trait was a fondness for bright colour, that was satisfied by red and purple splashed Jun ware of the Song to early Ming dynasties.

Among world ceramics, the most common glazes are transparent, and permit one to see through to the fired clay bodies beneath. Jun wares, however, bear opaque glazes with scant transparency. Jun’s grey stoneware clay bodies can be dimly sensed beneath their thick glazes, thereby adding a further dimension to the ceramic’s qualities. High temperature monochrome glazes on Jun ware were often applied to exceptional thickness, and they combined unusual technical qualities (such as an extreme hardness of surface) with a remarkable subtlety of colour and texture. They had visual depths and tactile qualities, and were too viscous to run, even at high temperatures. This same viscosity also encouraged complex microstructures to develop within the glazes during firing and cooling. Those high temperature effects resonated with aspects of the natural world, such as the milky whiteness of the moon, and were celebrated in descriptions of Jun glazes.

When and how did such spectacular glazes develop? Opal-blue glaze effects first appeared in the Tang dynasty, at sites that later became associated with Jun wares. Some black glazed ceramics made there were deliberately brushed with broad, thick brushes of lighter glaze. These thick daubs of lighter glaze merged with the black glazes in firing and developed true bluish or yellowish opalescence if taken to sufficient heat, probably to at least 1,250-1,280oC. It is possible that the inspiration for this came from observation of accidental splashes of ash-rich glaze that often appeared on their open-fired black ceramics in wood-burning kilns. The effects came either from ash-slag dripping from the kiln roof’s interior, or from a build-up of ash on the sides of the wares most exposed to the draft of the fire.1 Such accidental effects seem to have been translated into a deliberate glazing process, with the lighter glazes applied with a thick, heavily charged brush. In its most advanced form, lighter glazes were replaced by a resist medium. The whole black-glazed vessel was then dipped in an opalising top glaze. This produced an overall opal-blue glaze, with some black brush-marks in the resisted areas. So similar do some of these resist-decorated wares appear to true Jun glazes of the later 10th century that they may represent a transition between late Tang dynasty splashed blackwares and early Song dynasty Jun wares.

True Jun developed in the Northern Song dynasty, when thick bluish and bluish-green glazes were used on simple but highly expressive forms to create a refined monochrome style. The centres for Jun production were Henan and southern Hebei provinces, with Jun type wares even excavated at the imperial Ru kiln site at Qingliangsi. The majority of Jun wares came from at least ten manufactories in Linru and Yuxian, with the best examples deriving from kiln sites in Henan such as Juntai and Yezhugou in central Henan. The kilns made other pots as well as Jun ware and were surprisingly versatile in their productions. Some kilns made Jun wares, blackwares, and celadon wares, together with endless variants of the northern Cizhou style, and all within the same kiln complexes. Jun ware itself was manufactured from the Northern Song dynasty until the mid-Ming period.

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1

Nigel Wood 1999, p.141.

2

Zhao Qingyun 1975.

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Bowl with blue glaze Song dynasty, 12th century H: 8.5cm D: 15cm © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Presented by Sir Herbert Ingram, 1956 EA1956.1327

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Bowl Jin dynasty H: 8.9cm D: 19.5cm The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka Gift of SUMITOMO Group, the ATAKA Collection Photograph by MUDA Tomohiro 00618

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.1cm D: 8.9cm The Art Institute of Chicago Gift of Mr and Mrs Samuel M. Nickerson 1900.1485

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 3.5cm D: 4.5cm The Palace Museum/Image copyright © The Palace Museum 00142076

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.3cm D: 8.6cm Formerly in the collection of Kochukyo, Tokyo

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.2cm D: 8.8cm Small Circular Wine Bowl with Purple Splashes Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Photo ©President and Fellows of Harvard College 1942.185.66

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.4cm D: 8.5cm The Collection of Shang Shan Tang

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.2cm D: 8.7cm Small Circular Wine Bowl with Purple Splashes Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Photo ©President and Fellows of Harvard College 1942.185.65

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.3cm D: 8.9cm Small Circular Wine Bowl with Purple Splashes Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Photo ©President and Fellows of Harvard College 1942.185.63

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.3cm D: 8.8cm Small Circular Wine Bowl with Purple Splashes Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Photo ©President and Fellows of Harvard College 1942.185.68

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.3cm D: 8.4cm Small Circular Wine Bowl with Purple Splashes Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Photo ©President and Fellows of Harvard College 1942.185.70

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Cup Northern Song - Jin dynasty H: 4.4cm D: 8.6cm Sir Percival David Collection, image © The Trustees of the British Museum PDF 44

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Bowl Yuan dynasty H: 8.9cm D: 15cm The Collection of National Palace Museum So-Porcelain-017884-N000000000

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