Lot 206. A magnificent and superbly carved large Ding 'fish' basin, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 12 ¾ in. (32.4 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 800,000 - GBP 1,200,000 (USD 1,044,000 - USD 1,566,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The large basin is sturdily potted with rounded sides and supported on a low foot ring. The exterior has horizontal flutes radiating around the bowl, moulded to imitate lotus petals that are arranged into three registers. The upper register has overlapping petals directly under a plain moulded band below the straight mouth rim. The interior is decorated with a fish swimming in water amidst waterweeds. The basin is covered overall with an even ivory-white glaze with the exception of the mouth rim.

The result of Oxford Authentication thermoluminescence test no. P299e22 is consistent with the dating of this lot. 

This magnificent Ding ware basin is a testament to the skill of the Northern Song potter who made it and to the ambition of the patron who ordered it. Such large vessels are rare amongst Ding wares, and posed a particular challenge to the potters and kiln masters. Ding wares were fired in kilns known either as mantou kilns (bread bun kilns) or horse-shoe shaped kilns. These kilns were typical of north China in the Song dynasty and were cross-draught kilns capable of achieving the high temperatures needed to fire the Ding clay successfully. This white-firing clay had a high alumina content, which necessitated a high firing temperature in the region of 1300oC. The disadvantage of the mantou kilns was that they had a relatively small firing chamber, while the refined Ding white wares needed to be protected from kiln debris by being placed in saggars (fire clay boxes), which took up additional room within the kiln. In order to allow the firing of more than one vessel within a single saggar, without leaving a disfiguring mark on either vessel, stepped setters and ‘L’-shaped ring setters were developed. The Ding wares could then be fired using the fushao upside-down method, in which the mouth rim of the vessel was wiped clean of glaze and it was fired upside-down, standing on its mouth rim. Thus, pieces of ascending size could be fired on a stepped setter, while dishes of the same size could be fired in the ‘L’-shaped ring setters. 

To fire a basin of this size upside-down would, however, have been real test of the skill of both the potter and of the kiln master, since warping and cracking during firing would have been significant risks. Given these attendant risks, the small size of the firing chamber, and the high cost of fuel for firing, the creation of a vessel of the size of the current basin would have been a costly undertaking and one which would almost certainly have been prompted by a specific order, and, nor surprisingly, such vessels are very rare.  

A very slightly smaller Ding basin (D: 29.6 cm), also fired on its mouth rim, with carved overlapping petals on the exterior and an incised and carved fish in waves amongst aquatic plants on the interior is in the collection of Sir Percival David and was exhibited in Arte Cinese, Venice, 1954, No. 53 (also illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Ting and Allied Wares, London, 1980, no. 22, PDF 154). The Percival David basin has retained the narrow copper alloy band around its mouth, with which all fine quality Ding vessels with unglazed mouth rims would have been fitted in order to cover the unfired surface and provide a colour contrast to the ivory glaze. A similar basin (D: 31.5 cm), formerly in the collection of George Eumorfopoulos, is illustrated by R.L. Hobson in The Eumorfopoulos Collection, vol. II, 1926, pl. XXVII, No. C 133. Another from the collection of the British Museum is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great Collections, vol. 5, The British Museum, Tokyo, 1981, no. 56, while a further similar basin (D: 33 cm) was sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong, October 1995, lot 343. 

A basin of very similar size (D: 32.5 cm) and shape to the current vessel from the Qing Court collection is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (1) – The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 32, Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 64-5, no. 56). The exterior of the Beijing basin is very similarly carved with overlapping petals, while the interior is incised and carved with two smaller fish amongst waves, rather than the larger fish amongst aquatic plants seem on the current basin. A very similar incised and carved depiction of a fish amongst aquatic plants to that on the interior of the current bowl can be seen on a large Ding ware basin (D: 28.1 cm) in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 31). The exterior walls of this basin are undecorated. Another large Ding ware basin (D: 31.2 cm) in the collection of the National Palace Museum has overlapping petals on the exterior walls, but the interior has incised and carved lotus scrolls (illustrated ibid., no. 32).  

Overlapping petals on the exterior of bowls and dishes were used to decorate Tang dynasty metal wares, and thereafter appear on some 10th century Five Dynasties ceramic bowls and dishes from the Yue kilns, such as the bowl and stand discovered in 1956 at a temple pagoda in Suzhou (illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan – Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 251, no. 264). This style of decoration gained in popularity in the Song dynasty appearing on a variety of ceramic vessels especially those from the Ding and Longquan kilns. However, at the Ding kilns decoration on the exterior walls of open-wares was relatively rare and the carved overlapping petal decoration was more frequently seen on vertical forms.  

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 14 May 2019