Lot 3215. A very rare Ding meiping, Northern Song Dynasty, 10th-11th century; 9 3/4 in. (24.6 cm.) high. Estimate HK$4,000,000 - HK$6,000,000 ($518,291 - $777,436). Price Realized HK$7,240,000 ($937,888). © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

Elegantly-proportioned, the vase is finely potted with an ovoid body tapering from a high shoulder to a narrow base, surmounted by a short and gently waisted neck flaring to an everted mouth with finger-grooved rim. It is covered overall with a smooth ivory-tinted clear glaze. 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired in London circa 1940

Note: The present lot is a very rare example of the finest Ding wares produced in the early Northern Song period. It is distinguished by the minimalist form, successfully delivered by a combination of fine potting and an understanding of the Song aesthetic of understated elegance, which is lacking in many of the later Ding pieces when mass-production assumed a greater priority.

Ding wares of vertical forms are considerably rarer than those in open forms, and very few white Ding meiping are known, the closest example was sold at Sotheby's London on 11 May 2011, lot 11, which has a slightly narrower mouth and wider base. Another similar example missing the mouth amongst wares excavated from Quyuan county, Hebei Province, now in the collection of Cultural Relics Institute, Hebei Province, and illustrated in Ding Kiln of China, Series of China's Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites, Beijing, 2012, p. 133, no. 118. Compare also with a taller example (29 cm. high) excavated from Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, illustrated in ibid., appendix, p. 411. The current form also appeared on wares from other Northern kilns of the period, see for comparison a Yaozhou persimmon-glazed meiping in this sale, lot XXX.

Christie's. THE SOUND OF JADE AND THE SHADOW OF A CHRYSANTHEMUM, Hong Kong, 28 May 2014