A Very Rare Large Ding Incised 'Floral' Bowl. Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2012

The bowl is potted with deep rounded sides rising to an unglazed rim. The interior is freely incised with a graceful daylily spray and the curled leafy branches extending to the well. The exterior is plain with a raised band below the mouth rim. It is covered inside and out with a glaze of ivory tone gathering in pale olive-toned tears on the exterior. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HK$2,500,000 - HK$3,500,000 ($324,172 - $453,840)

Notes: It is rare to find Ding ware bowls of this large size and decoration although two similar examples are published. One was found in Korea in 1927, excavated from a Jin tomb dating to 1152, and is now in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Chinese Ceramics I, Tokyo, 1988, pl. 358; and was also included in the Nezu Museum exhibition, White Porcelain of Ding yao, Tokyo, 1983, Catalogue, pl. 121. The other with a metal rim is in the Idemitsu Collection, illustrated in White Ceramics of the East, The Genuine Pure World, Tokyo, 2012, pl. 23.

Compare also to a bowl with similar size and shape, but carved with fish designs in the interior and a metal rim, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, pl. 31. A design drawing similar to the present decoration is illustrated by M. Tregear, Song Ceramics, Fribourg, 1982, p. 53, fig. 4 (bottom right). The author states that identical incised decorations were applied to Ding ware of different types including bowls and dishes. The incised decoration, achieved by lightly drawn lines with a sloping cut in a free style, was first established in celadon wares in the Zhejiang areas during the 10th century, ibid., p. 52. The present bowl with its interior decorated with broad, free and expressive strokes is a particularly successful example among incised wares of the Northern Song period.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 28 November 2012. Hong Kong