a superb 'jun' purple-splashed dish Jin dynasty

the flat interior rising to short rounded sides and culminating in a broad everted rim, applied overall with a glossy lavender-blue glaze brilliantly decorated on the interior with three irregular splashes of deep pink-purple, suffused with craquelure, the recessed well covered in glaze revealing five spur marks, the foot rim unglazed

The interior well with two small iron spots. The everted mouth rim very slightly warped. In overall good condition. Inspected under UV light. The colors in the catalogue image appear more saturated than on the piece itself.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present 'Jun' dish is remarkable for its rich and attractively distributed splashes of a deep purple tone on the light-blue glaze. It is also remarkable for its large size as dishes of this type are usually somewhat smaller. A related dish of similar large size and also with five spur marks on its base, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chun Ware, Taipei, 1999, pl. 57; and another of very similar size was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30th October 2002, lot 300.  

Compare two smaller pieces in the Palace Museum, Beijing, one of them from the Qing Court collection, with much less purple, both illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pls. 226 and 230. Two further examples from the collection of  William Cleverley Alexander, one sold in our London rooms, 6th May 1931, lot 150, and now in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated in Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, col. pl. 17; the other sold in 1931 as lot 144, later from the collection of Peter Harris, sold again in our London rooms in 1955, and in our Hong Kong rooms in 1985 and more recently on 18th November 1998, lot 857. A further example of a magnificent 'Jun' splashed dish of this type, in The Cleveland Museum of Art, was included in the museum's exhibition The World of Ceramics, Cleveland, 1982, cat. no. 105.