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Bulb Bowl
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Numbered Jun ware is inscribed with a number on its bottom—in this case number "two"—and is thought to have been made initially for the early Ming imperial court. The number indicates size, with "one" being the largest and "ten" being the smallest. Another characteristic is the "earthworm trail" left on the glaze surface, seen on the interior of this bulb bowl, where the opalescent blue glaze has cracked in several places during firing. The rich purplish tone on the exterior is the result of using copper pigment in the glaze.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBulb Bowl, early 1400s. China, Henan Province, Yuxian, Juntai, Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Porcelaneous stoneware, numbered Jun ware; diameter: 23.5 cm (9 1/4 in.); overall: 8 cm (3 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1957.33
