A circular dish shown from above. It is pale blue with large, dark purple splotches.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A circular dish shown from above on a white background. The overall piece is pale blue in color with large, dark purple splotches circling the middle. The splotches have blurred, dark blue outlines. The dish has irregular, shallow cracks throughout.

Gallery Text

Chinese ceramic wares made in Song dynasty (960–1279) court taste are esteemed for their refined forms, subtle decoration, and soft, muted glaze colors. Buoyed by national peace, economic prosperity, and the rise of a highly educated civil official class, local ceramics industries throughout China began to thrive and innovate at unprecedented levels.

Kilns seeking to supply household wares to their highly cultured clientele often created pieces that were reminiscent of other precious items. For example, northern Ding wares, with their decorative designs and thin bodies, were often compared to silverwork, while the thick green glazes coating southern Longquan wares brought carved jades to mind. Although natural forms were popular, like those inspired by flower blossoms, government officials, who had attained their positions through long study of ancient texts and history, were especially drawn to ceramics that resembled the bronzes and jades of antiquity. Courtly taste in China would change drastically after the Song, shifting toward brightly decorated blue-and-white porcelains, invented at Jingdezhen in the fourteenth century and manufactured at the same kilns that produced the delicate blue-tinged white wares known as qingbai.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1942.185.72
Title
Circular Flat Dish with Everted Lip and Purple Splashes
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
12th-13th century
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Henan province
Period
Jin dynasty, 1115-1234
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/205361

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Jun ware: light gray stoneware with robin's-egg blue glaze enlivened with purple suffusions from copper filings
Technique
Jun
Dimensions
max.: H. 2 × Diam. 11.6 cm (13/16 × 4 9/16 in.)
foot: Diam. 4.7 cm (1 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane, Brookline, MA (by 1942), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1942.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane
Accession Year
1942
Object Number
1942.185.72
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Sara Moy, "Why Are They Blue?: A Technical Analysis of Chinese Green and Blue Glazed Celadons" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2001), Unpublished, pp. 1-48 passim
  • Lucy Cooper, Susan Costello, Katherine Eremin, Melissa Moy, Kathy King, Marc Walton, Emeline Pouyet Pouyet, Andrew Shortland, and Laure Dussubieux, Numbered Jun Ware - A Technical Study, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, American Institute for Conservation (10.1080/01971360.2020.1748971, November 19, 2020), 60, 4, Pages 255-268, Figure 2, Page 257
  • Lucy Cooper, Susan Costello, Katherine Eremin, Melissa Moy, Kathy King, Marc S. Walton, Emeline Pouyet Pouyet, Andrew Shortland, and Laure Dussubieux, "Numbered Jun Ware – a technical study", Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (2021), vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 255-268, p. 257, fig. 2
  • Rose Kerr, Dazzling Official Jun Wares: From Museums and Collections Around the World, ACC Art Books (Hong Kong, 2021), p. 66, no. 39

Exhibition History

  • Masterworks of East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/03/1995 - 06/09/1996
  • Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting ('04), Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 01/31/2004 - 08/01/2004
  • A Compelling Legacy: Masterworks of East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/24/2004 - 03/20/2005
  • Forging the New: East Asian Painting in the Twentieth Century, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/03/2005 - 10/16/2005
  • Downtime, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/28/2007 - 04/20/2008
  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 12/01/2016
  • Adorning the Inner Court: Jun Ware for the Chinese Palace, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/20/2017 - 08/13/2017

Subjects and Contexts

  • Jun Ware
  • Google Art Project

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu