An exceptional numbered 'Jun' zhadou-form flowerpot, Early Ming dynasty, 15th century

Collection of John Gardner Coolidge (1863-1936).

Massachusetts Private Collection, acquired in the 1950s.

Collection of T. T. Tsui (label).

Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth (1929-2014), New York.

Acquired from the above, 2010.

Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics. Based on the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Hong Kong, 2021, pl. 30.

A captivating cosmos of lavender, burgundy, and soft sky blue, the present flower pot is a rare and magnificent example of the famous ‘numbered Jun’ wares. Preserved in private collections for over a century, this extraordinary example remains in pristine condition, a jewel from the heart of the early Ming court. 

While undoubtedly imperial treasures, the origins of these enigmatic pieces – enrobed in brilliant glazes and carved to their bases with characteristic numerals – remains somewhat a mystery. The history of ‘Jun’ wares began in the Song dynasty with the kilns of Junzhou and its environs, typified by their thick sumptuous glazes of dazzling opalescent tone. However, both chemically and aesthetically, so-called ‘numbered Jun’ wares remain distinct from those of the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties. While sharing the characteristic opalescence and microscopic bubbling of their predecessors, ‘numbered Jun’ remain unique in their grand moulded forms, fine grey clay-body and dazzling thick glazes which seem to ripple across their surfaces in ‘worm tracks.’

With a marked consistency in quality and form and no known examples found outside of a kiln site or Beijing palace context, it seems highly likely that this group was produced directly for the early Ming court, each incised to the base with a numeral corresponding to its size or position. As Jessica Harrison-Hall argues, given the method of construction using double molds did not exist until the early 15th century, it seems highly likely that these rare pieces were commissioned by the Yongle and Xuande emperors for the newly built Ming palaces in Beijing where they were displayed and admired throughout the ensuing centuries; see Ming. 50 Years That Changed China, British Museum, London, 2014, pp 92-97. 

Early depictions of these grand pots in court paintings further support this imperial attribution. Compare a bulb bowl of this ‘official’ style, depicted in the anonymous hanging scroll The Eighteen Scholars, attributed to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition The Enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 2014, p. 39 (top); and a barbed jardinière painted in the anonymous handscroll Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden from 1437, which depicts the court official Yang Rong (1371-1440) during a gathering of scholars at his home in Beijing. The painting, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was included in the seminal Ming exhibition at the British Museum, op. cit., cat. no. 164.

The grand yet understated form of the present flower pot – one of only fourteen designs apparently ever produced in this imperial glaze – is typically associated with the scholar’s spitoon or zhadou. Intact examples of the present form appear to be particularly rare due to the fragility of the generously splayed rim and surviving examples are frequently attested with their necks reduced. Compare a closely related intact zhadou flowerpot from the Poon Family Collection, incised with the numeral san (three), sold in our Hong Kong rooms for more than 10.2 million Hong Kong dollars, 16th October 2024, lot 808; and another, also numbered san, from the celebrated Dane Collection of numbered Jun, now preserved the Harvard Art Museums (accession. no. 1942.185.38). 

For further examples with reduced necks, apparently already a commonplace fault in imperial contexts during the Qing dynasty, compare two zhadou preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei included in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pls 10 and 14; another of lighter blue tone preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Jun Ware. The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2013, pl. 107; a fourth from the Walters Collection in S. W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1896, pl. XCIV; and a fifth from the Eumorfopoulos Collection, illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection. Catalogue of the Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. III, London, 1926, cat. no. C3, pl. III; and two further more recent auction examples: one from the collection of Dr. Walter Read Hovey (1895-1981), sold from the Carnegie Museum of Art in our New York rooms, 19th March 2025, lot 106; and another (no. 3), similarly reduced from the Mount Trust Collection, most recently sold from the Linyushanren Collection at Christie’s New York, 15th September 2016, lot 724.

John Gardner Coolidge (1863-1936) was born into a philanthropic and artistic family, nephew of Isabella Stewart Gardner, who founded a museum in Boston. After graduating from Harvard University, 1887, he traveled to Asia for three years, living in Japan and travelling to China, India, Thailand and Malaysia. He returned to China as a diplomat from 1902 to 1906, where he served as a member of the Peking legation.