Lot 3110. A very rare large Ding dish-mouthed vase, Five dynasties-Northern Song dynasty, 10th century; 11 3/8 in. (28.8 cm.) high. Estimate HK$2,000,000 – HK$3,000,000 (US$258,674 - $388,011). Price realised HKD 3,160,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

The vase is elegantly potted with an ovoid body tapering to a short splayed foot, surmounted by a bamboo-shaped neck flaring to a dish-shaped mouth. It is covered overall with a clear ivory-white glaze of even tone, with exception of the unglazed foot exposing the white biscuit body, Japanese wood box

Provenance: An important Japanese private collection, acquired in the late 1980s

Literature: Tokyo National Museum, Chinese Ceramics:Special Exhibition, Tokyo, 1994, p. 97

Exhibited: Tokyo National Museum, Chinese Ceramics:Special Exhibition, 12 October-23 November 1994, Catalogue, no. 140

Notes: The present vase is a very rare example of the early Ding wares produced in Quyang county. Compare the present lot to a similar Ding vase, but with a less tapered body, exhibited and illustrated in Principal Wares of the Song Period from a Private Collection, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2015, Catalogue, no. 2. Compare also a white-glazed vase of similar form but with a spout, illustrated in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji (Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China), Beijing, 2008, vol. 3: Hebei, p. 75. 

It is interesting to note that bamboo was a popular decorative element in early Ding wares. A highly important Ding kundika vase found in the Jingzhongyuan monastry, Dingzhou city, has a bamboo-shaped neck similar to the neck of the present vase, illustrated ibid, p. 110. A circular box and cover carved with grooves to the exterior in imitation of bamboo was also found in the Jingzhongyuan monastry, illustrated ibid, p. 108.

Christie's. CLASSICAL CHINESE ART FROM THE SUI TO THE SONG DYNASTIES, 1 June 2016, Convention Hall