Flower pot stand

This Jun-style ceramic stand was originally intended to hold a flower pot of complementary design and color. First created in Henan Province in northern China, Jun ware was later imitated at other important centers of ceramics production, such as Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province. The style remained fashionable among scholar-collectors and flower connoisseurs, and experienced a resurgence in popularity during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Copies of earlier forms and glazes became so accomplished that it is often difficult to distinguish them from the originals. Freer believed this piece, which he purchased during his 1907 trip to China, was from Yuan dynasty in the fourteenth century, but it may actually be a much later Qing dynasty vessel. In the Peacock Room, Freer ignored its original function as a stand and displayed it on its side, so the various shades of blue and violet on the interior were visible.