Numbered Jun Ware
Introduction
Beneath the surface of an extraordinary Chinese ceramic ware known in the West as “numbered Jun” is a story of both technical and historical complexity. Numbered Jun are related to the celebrated group of Song dynasty (960–1279) ceramics called Jun ware, renowned for its opalescent blue glaze often enhanced with purple. While numbered Jun share a similar glaze and color palette to classic Jun, they are distinguished by a well-defined array of sophisticated forms and by marks of a single Chinese numeral on each vessel’s base—thus the peculiar name of the ware.