Bidamount News November 13, 2026, Vol 656

From Chinese Porcelain to Delftware | Blue-and-White Ceramics

ArtemisiaOctober 5, 2026

The blue-and-white ceramics that swept across Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century could be seen as symbols of the cultural and technological cross-fertilization inherent in the arts. Chinese blue-and-white porcelain inspired new tastes and styles, while stimulating the development of more local alternatives throughout Europe in the form of tin-glazed earthenware.

In this article, we explore the origins of Delftware and the influences that reached the Dutch Republic from abroad. These influences proved fundamental to the emergence of ceramics that remain renowned worldwide, more than three centuries after their beginnings.

17th-century still life painting by Huybert Van Westhoven (1642-1712). A Kraak porcelain bowl among other expensive goods. © Galerie PhC

In the painting above, a still life evokes the luxury of the Dutch Golden Age, with a piece of Kraak porcelain displayed among other precious objects. Kraak was undoubtedly the most emblematic Chinese export porcelain to reach Europe before Delftware emerged. Yet, to understand the origins of Delftware, we must also consider the various types of porcelain imported through the beginning of the Qing dynasty and identify the major Chinese motifs and forms that captivated the West before being reinterpreted by Delft potters.

Chinese Porcelain Imports: A First Phase Dominated by the Portuguese

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to organize regular imports of Chinese porcelain, expanding this trade from the early 1530s. Lisbon’s Santos Palace (now the French embassy in Portugal) offers a spectacular testimony to the fascination it inspired: its Porcelain Room contains more than 260 Chinese dishes and plates, mostly sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century blue-and-white wares, displayed across a gilded pyramidal ceiling.

Much of the porcelain reaching Europe came from the kilns of Jingdezhen and was made for export, tailored to foreign tastes. Europeans particularly admired the contrast between its luminous cobalt decoration and its fine, lightweight body: a milky white material, subtly tinged with green beneath a remarkably smooth and brilliant glaze.

First Orders and European Tastes

From around 1514, during the reign of the Ming emperor Zhengde (1506–1521), the Portuguese became the first Europeans to commission porcelain from Jingdezhen. Made for Manuel I and noble families, these rare blue-and-white vessels combine Chinese forms and motifs with Portuguese coats of arms, Christian emblems and the king’s armillary sphere. Ewers and dishes in the Medeiros e Almeida collection offer some of the earliest surviving evidence of this artistic exchange.

The pairing of angels with grape motifs further suggests a Eucharistic theme, likely for the Portuguese Jesuit market. This Chinese blue-and-white jar was probably made circa 1610-1630. © Menken Works of Art

Such adaptations continued as other European nations entered the trade, with vessels tailored to European uses, often following silverware models, and decoration incorporating Western imagery. The vase illustrated here, circa 1610–1630, probably made for Portuguese Jesuits, combines relief cherub heads and grapevines with Chinese floral and lotus motifs. It exemplifies the cultural hybridization of export porcelain, shaped by European demand and Chinese craftsmanship.

A Rich Decorative Repertoire: Zhengde, Jiajing, and Longqing Porcelain

Large export dishes associated with the Zhengde period (1506–1521) typically have thick white porcelain bodies and a slightly bluish glaze. Dense decoration surrounds a central subject with floral scrolls, separated by double blue lines. Pierced rocks, flowering plants, qilin, and winged sea dragons (feiyu) feature prominently, painted in dark to grayish blues with precise outlines.

Production under Jiajing (1522–1566) was exceptionally varied and inventive. Daoist beliefs encouraged imagery associated with longevity and immortality: deer, cranes, peaches, pine trees, lingzhi fungi, and the character shou. Borders frequently alternated flowers, fruit, and ribbon-tied auspicious emblems, while archaic chi dragons, lions, birds, insects, and flowering branches enriched the repertoire.

The 261 plates and dishes lining the pyramidal ceiling of the Porcelain Room at Santos Palace in Lisbon form an exceptional collection in Europe for its size and the period represented. Its many early export pieces have deepened our understanding of the Zhengde, Jiajing, and Longqing porcelains that reached Europe. © MNAAG, Paris/Thierry Ollivier, 2018

Most significantly, new marine and lakeside landscapes emerged. Islands, waterways, and rocky shores were populated with pavilions, pagodas, bridges, boats, fishermen, and waterbirds, offering schematic yet picturesque glimpses of Chinese nature, architecture, and everyday life. Produced in numerous variations, these scenes appear to have enjoyed considerable success among foreign buyers. Deep blues, sometimes with a violet cast, contrasted with lighter washes and firm, dark outlines.

The short Longqing reign (1567–1572) continued Jiajing styles while increasingly organizing decoration into medallions, lobed cartouches, and distinct panels—a transition toward the compartmentalized compositions of early Wanli export porcelain and kraak ware.

When the Dutch Took Over the Chinese Porcelain Imports

Imports increased dramatically after Dutch merchants entered the trade and the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), i.e., the Dutch East India Company, was founded in 1602. Following the Dutch capture of Portuguese carracks loaded with Chinese porcelain in 1602 and 1603, and the resounding success of the auctions held in the budding Dutch Republic—particularly that of 1604—, the VOC developed the porcelain trade on a scale far beyond anything seen before.

Kraak Porcelain

Produced at Jingdezhen during the late Ming dynasty, chiefly from the Wanli reign (1573–1620) to that of Chongzhen (1628–1644), Kraak porcelain dominated Chinese exports until around 1635. Its name probably derives from the Portuguese carraca, the merchant ships that first carried it to Europe, but it became more closely associated with the Dutch as trade expanded dramatically under their auspices.

Kraak was not a single, unchanging style. Its light, highly vitrified body, thin edges, lobed rims and molded divisions distinguish it from earlier export porcelain. Its brilliant glaze often flakes at the rim, producing a “moth-eaten edge.” The cobalt decoration was organized around a central medallion and radial compartments covering the well and rim.

17th-century Kraak porcelain bowl with a diameter of 35.4 cm. Central medallion with two birds among peonies. Radial panels with chrysanthemums, peaches, lozenge with ribbon. © Galerie Drake

In the earliest Kraak designs, the radial panels are contiguous and separated only by single or double lines. Traditional subjects—deer, birds, insects and landscapes—remain prominent in the central medallion, while the surrounding compartments contain finely painted flowers, fruit and auspicious emblems. Narrow bands were gradually inserted between the broader panels, establishing the alternating rhythm that became one of the most recognizable features of Kraak porcelain.

As the formula developed, the divisions became more elaborate. Geometric designs increasingly surrounded the central medallion and filled the narrow bands, while the broader panels were sometimes enclosed within lobed cartouches. Auspicious and symbolic objects, initially confined to the border, began to appear as principal subjects alongside women in gardens, flower baskets, birds and landscapes. Quality varied considerably: the finest dishes have precise drawing and brilliant, subtly modulated blues, whereas mass production encouraged hurried execution, grayish cobalt and increasingly careless secondary decoration.

Prominent geometric patterns on this 17th-century Kraak porcelain plate (circa 1660). The center is emphasized by its star shape. © Bils Céramiques

In later examples, the radial compartments evolved into fruit-shaped medallions, particularly peaches. These were arranged around an increasingly angular central field that eventually assumed a star-like form. Larger dishes generally retained more complex geometric borders and finer painting, while smaller examples were often simpler and more rapidly executed. Abundantly represented in northern European collections and shipwreck cargoes, this adaptable system of a central image framed by radiating compartments became one of the principal models imitated by European potters.

Transitional Porcelain

Following the death of the Wanli Emperor in 1620, China entered a prolonged period of rebellion and dynastic conflict. As imperial patronage declined, skilled potters and painters increasingly worked for private kilns at Jingdezhen, serving domestic and foreign clients. This greater freedom encouraged the new forms and decoration now known as Transitional porcelain.

Rigid Kraak-style panels gave way to continuous landscapes and narrative scenes, sometimes inspired by illustrations in Chinese books. Scholars, horsemen, and attendants appeared among rocks, fences, terraces, and pavilions, surrounded by grasses, ferns, palms, and elongated flowering plants. Some romance scenes as well.

A Chinese blue-and-white porcelain bottle vase decorated with landscapes. From the Transitional period, circa 1630-1640. © Galerie Porcelaine des Compagnie des Indes

The Manchu conquest established the Qing dynasty in 1644, although resistance continued for decades. Warfare disrupted Jingdezhen and its supply routes, bringing regular VOC imports of Chinese porcelain almost to a halt from the late 1640s. Trade recovered only around 1680.

The Dutch Reaction to the Ming Dynasty Collapse

Find Another Source of Porcelain: Japan

When civil war disrupted Chinese porcelain exports, the VOC turned to Japan. Following the invasions of Korea in the 1590s, Korean potters had settled in Kyushu, where suitable porcelain stone was discovered near Arita. Their expertise laid the foundations of Japanese porcelain production. Meanwhile, the Portuguese were expelled from Japan in 1639, and the Dutch trading post was transferred to Dejima in 1641.

Late 17th-century Arita porcelain charger inspired by Chinese Kraak porcelain. Such dishes with the VOC mark were for high-ranking staff of the Dutch Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie. © Conservatoire Sakura

From the 1650s, the VOC exported Arita porcelain in increasing quantities. Early wares imitated Chinese Kraak and Transitional designs, generally with softer blue and freer brushwork, before distinctively Japanese polychrome styles such as Kakiemon and Imari emerged. For more, see our article on The Ceramics of Hizen Province. When Chinese exports resumed in the 1680s, cheaper Jingdezhen porcelain again offered fierce competition.

Producing New Ceramics with Italian Technology: Delftware

European demand for porcelain far exceeded imports, yet its manufacture remained a mystery. Even the Medici workshop’s experimental soft-paste porcelain, developed in Florence around 1575, was costly and short-lived. If Europeans could not reproduce porcelain’s fine white body, however, they could imitate its appearance.

This 16th-century Hispano-Moresque lustreware dish features a raised central boss. The broad rim is decorated with foliage highlighted in blue against a background strewn with alternating solfas and tiny flowers. © Martin Villena Librero & Anticuario

The solution was maiolica: earthenware coated with an opaque white tin glaze, upon which colourful decoration could be painted. Developed in the Islamic world and transmitted to Italy through Hispano-Moresque pottery, the technique travelled north with Italian craftsmen.

Around 1508, Guido di Savino—later known as Guido Andries—settled in Antwerp and established an influential workshop. Antwerp subsequently became a centre from which this expertise spread to the Northern Netherlands, England, and Germany, laying the technological foundations for Delftware.

Polychrome majolica floor tiles of the type found at Herkenrode Abbey, made in Guido Andries’s Den Salm workshop, c. 1530–1540. © Mazereeuw Antiquair

Delftware: The Basics

The original aim of the pottery produced in Delft—in the province of Holland, within the young Dutch Republic—was to create the illusion of Chinese porcelain. The name of the first workshop, established by Herman Pietersz in 1598, perfectly illustrates this ambition: De Porceleyne Schotel (The Porcelain Dish).

Delftware reached its golden age in the late seventeenth century, particularly around 1680, although the period may be defined more broadly as extending from about 1640 to 1740. Delftware began as a blue-and-white ceramic tradition, and the vast majority of pieces remained so. Some, however, were left entirely white and became known as Delft Wits. From around 1670, green, yellow and brick red were added to the decorative palette.

Two examples of Delft chinoiserie ceramics from the 17th century: a baluster vase (© Mazereeuw Antiquair) and a plate (© Galerie L’Héritage) that illustrate the range of blue tones and brushwork.

Technically, Delftware owed its fame to a thin, finely made earthenware body covered with an opaque white tin glaze. On finer pieces, an additional transparent lead glaze, known as kwaart, was applied before a second firing to enhance the brilliance and imitate porcelain’s glossy finish.

Cobalt-blue decoration, painted onto the unfired glaze, further enhanced this porcelain-like effect. Rather than using a single flat blue, Delft painters combined dark outlines—the trek—with paler washes and intermediate tones to suggest volume, distance, and shadow. Early pieces often display soft lavender-blue hues, while deeper blues became more common towards the end of the 17th century.

What Delftware Borrowed From Chinese Porcelain

As noted earlier, the porcelain imported from China was adapted to European markets. Nevertheless, Chinese forms and motifs remained essential to its appeal. Delftware did more than imitate the physical appearance of porcelain: it also drew extensively on the Chinese iconographic repertoire, even though many pieces remained firmly rooted in Western decorative traditions.

Our purpose here is not to explore the broader history of chinoiserie, which is far richer than the simple copying of Chinese designs. But we draw on the porcelain styles discussed above to identify the main decorative elements that caught European eyes and were adopted by Delft potters.

Motifs That Instantly Evoke China

Europeans adopted not only Chinese motifs but also their arrangement into medallions, radiating panels, reserves or continuous scenes.

Ruyi and Lingzhi

Among the most recurring ornaments was the ruyi head, derived from the curved end of a ceremonial sceptre whose name evokes the fulfilment of wishes. Its shape was closely associated with the lingzhi, the sacred fungus believed to confer longevity or immortality. Both motifs frequently appear amid stylized clouds, sometimes becoming almost indistinguishable from them. Detached from their original meaning, their sinuous outlines became a familiar element of chinoiserie decoration.

Note the two types of borders on this Transitional-style porcelain: a band of ruyi heads around the top of the neck and, below, a border of pendant banana leaves framing the principal decoration. This pair of blue-and-white covered jars is from the Hatcher cargo found in 1983. The shipwreck happened around 1643-1646 near the waters of Batavia. © Red Rose Fine Art

Symbols and Objects

The “Hundred Antiques” (bogu) brought together ancient bronzes, vases, books, scrolls and scholars’ objects, reflecting the antiquarian culture epitomized by catalogues such as the Xuanhe Bogu Tulu. These arrangements could be combined with Buddhist and Daoist emblems, particularly the Eight Auspicious Symbols (bajixiang): the wheel, conch shell, parasol, victory banner, lotus, paired fish, treasure vase and endless knot. Such motifs appeared frequently on export porcelain, including Kraak wares.

They should not be confused with the Eight Precious Objects (babao), whose composition varied. On Ming porcelain, they commonly included the flaming pearl, double lozenge, stone chime, pair of rhinoceros horns, paired coins, gold or silver ingot, coral branch and ruyi sceptre.

Often tied with fluttering ribbons and separated by flowers or clouds, these objects appealed to Western decorators primarily for their ornamental qualities. Their symbolism was generally misunderstood, and Delftware chinoiseries consequently combined elements from bogu, bajixiang and babao with considerable freedom.

Landscapes and Nature

Chinese porcelain introduced European decorators to a distinctive landscape vocabulary: pagodas and pavilions, fantastic rocks, waterfalls, figures crossing bridges, and sampans or junks navigating rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Buildings in the foreground were often partly concealed behind rocks or clouds, creating successive layers of scenery. Flowers—including chrysanthemums, lotus, peonies and camellias—were equally prominent, whether arranged in gardens, vases or ornamental borders.

“Three Friends of Winter” on this pair of saucers from the Wanli period (1573-1620). © Galerie Drake

Certain plants carried particular symbolic importance. The “Three Friends of Winter”—pine, bamboo and flowering prunus—represented perseverance and resilience. The peach tree, especially when shown with a gnarled trunk, symbolized longevity, while its fruit was frequently combined with flowers and auspicious emblems. Banana plants, with their broad leaves, also became a favourite feature: their foliage could frame a scene or form a border and appeared unmistakably exotic to European eyes.

The animal world was equally rich. Deer, monkeys, hares, herons, cranes, ducks, fish, bats and tortoises appeared alongside imaginary creatures such as dragons, phoenixes, qilin and Buddhist guardian lions. Although each possessed specific associations—deer, for example, were linked to longevity and believed able to locate the sacred lingzhi—European painters generally retained their visual appeal while freely altering, combining or misunderstanding their meanings.

Iconic Chinese Vase Shapes

European potters repeatedly borrowed the distinctive profiles of Chinese porcelain: double-gourd hulu bottles, trumpet-shaped gu beakers, pear-shaped vase with a garlic mouth (known as suantouping), meiping vases, multi-faceted polygonal vases inspired by archaic ritual bronze vessels (stemming from fanghu or fangzun), ovoid jars and covered baluster vases.

A Chinese pear-shaped porcelain vase with a garlic mouth from the Wanli period. © Menken Works of Art

In the Netherlands, three or five complementary vessels—usually alternating covered jars and beaker vases—were arranged symmetrically above cupboards and mantelpieces. Such a garniture was called a kaststel, or “cupboard set.”

Conclusion

In this article, we have briefly introduced delftware while focusing on the artistic and technical influences from abroad that shaped it, particularly the Chinese blue-and-white porcelain exported to Europe. Portugal initially dominated this trade before the Dutch Republic took the lead.

Chinese producers also showed considerable commercial acumen, tailoring their porcelain to the tastes of different markets. Outside the scope of this article are the wares they developed for Southeast Asia, such as Swatow, and for Japan, such as ko-sometsuke.

Kraak porcelain certainly played a major role in the European market. Yet we felt it was essential to examine other styles of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain up to the beginning of the Kangxi reign—a reign that roughly coincided with delftware’s period of full maturity. This broader perspective helps us identify the key shapes and motifs that Delft potters adopted in their chinoiserie wares.

The Untold Story of Stephen Junkunc III, One of the Great Chinese Art Collectors

Published By Sotheby's, New York

There are a handful of collectors in the world of Chinese art that are inextricably associated with works of exceptional quality. Stephen Junkunc, III, (d. 1978) is among these luminaries. Discover more about this inspiring collector ahead of Sotheby's Asia Week.

There are a handful of names in the world of Chinese art that are inextricably associated with works of exceptional quality. Stephen Junkunc, III is amongst these luminaries. The name itself instantly evokes a period during which some of the greatest Chinese treasures came to America. Today, the Junkunc name serves as one of the most important, and indeed desirable, provenances for Chinese art. Formed in America in the mid-20th century by Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978), the Junkunc Collection at its height numbered over 2,000 examples of exceptional Chinese porcelain, jade, bronzes, paintings and Buddhist sculptures; serving as a testament to a period of unprecedented wealth of Chinese material available in the West, as well as to an astounding intellectual curiosity and the means with which to buy internationally from the leading dealers in the field.

Stephen Junkunc, III was born in Budapest, Hungary circa 1905, and emigrated to Chicago, Illinois as a young child, where his father Stephen Junkunc, II (d. 1948), a tool-and-die maker, founded General Machinery & Manufacturing Company in 1918. The company specialized in the manufacture of knife edge fuel nozzle heads. With the outbreak of World War II, General Machinery converted its shop for the war effort and began manufacturing various aircraft parts, including B-29 hydraulic spools on behalf of Ford Motor Company, who was sub-contracting work from engine maker Pratt & Whitney.

Alongside his role as manager and part owner of the company, Stephen Junkunc, III spent his free time forming an extraordinary collection of Chinese art. With an unabated hunger for knowledge, Junkunc was a voracious reader who studied the Chinese language and kept extensive libraries of Chinese art reference books and auction catalogues at both his home and office. Junkunc appears to have made his first acquisitions in the early 1930s, apparently after having happened upon a book on Chinese art. It is perhaps no coincidence that Junkunc’s initial collecting activity largely coincided with the establishment of the Chicago branch of the reputable Japanese dealers Yamanaka & Co., Ltd., who opened a gallery at 846 North Michigan Boulevard in 1928. Many of Junkunc’s early purchases came from Yamanaka, and before long, he was buying directly from the leading London dealers specializing in Chinese art: Bluett & Sons, W. Dickinson & Sons, H.R.N. Norton and, of course, John Sparks, seeking fine examples of porcelain for his collection.

The collection of Chinese ceramics from the Junkunc Collection ranks amongst the greatest assemblages of porcelain ever formed in the West. The collection included two examples of the fabled Ru ware, of which only eighty-seven examples in the world are known. These two dishes represented two of the only seven examples of Ru ware to have been offered at auction since the 1940s. One of the Ru dishes, purchased from C.T. Loo in 1941, set a new world record when it sold at auction for $1.6 million in New York in 1992, and is today in the esteemed collection of Au Bak Ling. Junkunc’s discerning eye for ceramics was well established even in his nascent years of collecting, as evidenced by a letter he wrote to W. Dickinson & Sons in October 1935, requesting that they be on the lookout for him for Kangxi and Yongzheng period copper-red, peachbloom and celadon-glazed ‘cabinet pieces’ of ‘very fine quality only’. In May of 1936, he wrote to Bluett & Sons in London requesting that they continue to look for underglaze-red and peachbloom pieces for him, and to H.R.N. Norton in July of 1936 asking that he ‘send [him] photos of any nice pieces in monochromes finely decorated pieces of the Ching dynasty’, along with Ming pieces ‘in the Chinese taste’ such as ‘fine dainty bowls, stem cups, vases etc. of almost any description, but not the clumsy types with poor color and hurried drawings’.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the inventories of Yamanaka’s galleries in America fell into the custody of the United States government, which dissolved the company, seizing and eventually selling off much of its merchandise through auctions held at the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York in May and June 1944. This same year Hisazo Nagatani (d. 1994), the former manager of Yamanaka’s Chicago gallery, established himself as an independent dealer in Chicago under the company name Nagatani Inc. Nagatani continued to serve as a consistent source of works for Junkunc for over three decades, supplying by far the majority of the works in the Junkunc Collection. During the 1940s, Junkunc appears to have broadened the scope of his collecting interests to focus on earlier material, including Song to Ming ceramics, archaic bronzes and – crucially – Buddhist sculpture. Aside from Nagatani, he purchased extensively from auction, particularly from New York’s Parke-Bernet Galleries, as well from Tonying & Company and C.T. Loo, both in New York.

By the early 1950s, Junkunc had amassed an impressive collection of Chinese works of art which by then was largely securely stored in the museum-like environs of a subterranean bomb shelter in the grounds of his home in Oak Park, Illinois. In a 1952 profile in the Chicago Tribune, the bunker is described as storing a ‘priceless hoard’, with ‘shelves weighted with priceless pieces of Chinese art, prizes produced thru a span of centuries. A record of a nation in tapestry, bronze, jade, pottery, robes, and lacquer':

"Junkunc sits spider-like in the center of a web of agents scattered throughout the world. His escapades in procuring some objects have called for the suavity of a diplomat, the daring of an international spy, and the speed of a distance runner. Cloaked in intrigue and secrecy, and spiced by competition, collecting oriental art is no role of a Milquetoast."

- Chicago Tribune, 7th September 1952

Alfred Salmony (1890-1958), Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University since 1938, was one of the leading international authorities on the subject of early Chinese jades at the time, having published Carved Jade of Ancient China in 1938. He was planning a two-volume history of Chinese jade, to be entitled 1958, when he visited Junkunc in February 1950 to examine his collection of early Chinese jades. This meeting forged a strong friendship between the two men, who shared a passion for the material and a desire to formulate a chronology for post-archaic jades, a subject little understood at the time. For over eight years, Junkunc and the English collector Desmond Gure (1905–1970) supported Salmony in the research and preparation of this book. Tragically, Salmony died at sea whilst travelling to London on April 29th April 29th 1958, before the work was finished. The first half of his book was posthumously published in 1963 and entitled Chinese Jade Through the Wei Dynasty, illustrating a number of works from both Junkunc and Gure’s collections.

The 1950s witnessed perhaps the most fervent period of buying activity for Stephen Junkunc, when he continued to make large acquisitions from Nagatani and Frank Caro, the successor of C.T. Loo, as well as from Alice Boney and Warren E. Cox in New York, and Barling of Mount Street Ltd., in London. Unfortunately for Junkunc, this decade of buying coincided with the Korean War and restrictions placed by the American government on importing Chinese works of art into America. No works were permitted to be imported into the country unless it could be proven that they had not been in the hands of a national of China since 17th December 1950. Whilst these restrictions did, with the encouragement of John Sparks, encourage Junkunc to diversify his collection into non-Chinese works of art, an auction in Paris in 1952 presented him with an opportunity he could not afford to miss.

The sale of the collection of the Marquis de Ganay held at the Hôtel Drouot in May 1952 included a dazzling array of ancient Chinese art. Junkunc was successful in acquiring six lots from the sale (two of which are offered in this auction, lots 241 and 234) but endured multiple failed attempts to import them into the United States. It is only due to the numerous affidavits, witness documents and original purchase invoices that were submitted to the Foreign Assets Control department as part of his successful application that we today know the additional important provenances of these works.

Throughout his lifetime, Stephen Junkunc, III worked closely with and actively supported the curators at American museums. He retained a particularly long-standing relationship with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), repeatedly loaning works from his collection to exhibitions through the 1940s-60s. Works from the Junkunc Collection were also loaned to the seminal Ming Blue and White exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago, which traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1949, and to the Arts of the T’ang exhibition of 1956, at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Junkunc’s generosity towards American museums also extended towards bequests, with gifts from his collection now housed in the Milwaukee Public Museum, Wisconsin, and the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Florida, near his Coral Gables summer home.

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Thank you very much. Peter

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