Lot 319. A rare large Ding white-glazed 'guan'-inscribed foliate-rim dish, Five Dynasties-Northern Song Dynasty (907-1127); 20.5 cm diam. (2). Estimate HK$680,000 - HK$1,000,000 (75 000 € - 110 000 €). Unsold. © Bonhams
 

Elegantly potted as a dish of shallow rounded form, the undulating rim rising from a ring foot and cut into ten lobed mallow-like petals, covered overall except the footring with an even white glaze with characteristic teardrops on the underside, the base inscribed with a character, 'Guan', Japanese wood box.

Note: Ding foliate dishes of this large size are extremely rare. A closely related dish of similar size (21.7 cm diam.), also inscribed with a guan mark, Five Dynasties - Song dynasty, 10th century, is in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou, Taipei, 2014, no. I-18, where the author mentions bowls of this type were also discovered in a Five Dynasties tomb attributed to the Wang noble family of Yang Wu (year 933), and in a Liao dynasty noble consort tomb (year 959).

Compare a smaller example (13.5 cm diam.) with a 'Guan' mark, Five Dynasties, previously in the collection of Dr Carl Kempe and the Houlezhai collection, later sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29 April 2022, lot 3688. Another related example, Five Dynasties to Song dynasty, was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 November 2023, lot 106.

Lot 320. A Ding moulded 'Buddhist lion' dish, Northern Song-Jin Dynasty (960-1234); 21.5 cm diam. (2). Estimate HK$680,000 - HK$300,000 - HK$500,000 (33 000 € - 55 000 €). Unsold. © Bonhams

Finely potted with gently rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the interior moulded in the centre with a striding Buddhist lion chasing a brocade ball amidst dense auspicious clouds, encircled by a band of leafy scrolls divided by raised ribs on the cavetto, the rim bound in gilt-metal, fitted box.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 21-22 September 2021, lot 158.

Note: The present dish, finely moulded with a rare design of an animated Buddhist lion in pursuit of a beribboned ball, exemplifies the artistic mastery of the Ding kiln in Hebei. Compare a closely related example of this size and composition excavated in Quyang, Hebei, attributed to the Jin Dynasty and illustrated in Zhongguo chutu ciqi quanji (Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China), vol. 3: Hebei, Beijing, 2008, no. 170.

Lot 348. A small Guan washer, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 9.5 cm long x 6.5 cm wide x 2.2 cm high (3). Estimate HK$680,000 - HK$300,000 - HK$500,000. Sold for HK$51,200. © Bonhams 2001-2025
 

Of quatrelobed form, the shallow sides rising to a wide everted rim, all supported on four short feet, covered overall except the feet with an opaque glaze of soft greyish tone suffused with a matrix of light brownish crackles, wood stand and Japanese wood box.