Lot 17. A rare and unusual 'Ding' carved 'lion' censer, Song dynasty. Height 4 in., 10.1 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,030,000 — 50,000 USD. Lot sold 75,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

raised on a stepped pedestal, the compressed globular cup boldly carved and incised around the exterior in relief with lotus leaves, supported on a hollow stem molded with four crouching lions, covered overall in a lightly crackled ivory-tinted glaze pooling in the recesses, the pedestal with characteristic 'tear' marks, the rim bound in metal. 

Note: 'Ding' vessels of this form are extremely rare, and the combination of four lions molded below the carved and incised overlapping petals is an exceptional example of the virtuosity and playfulness of the 'Ding' potters.  

A 'Ding' stemcup of closely related form and carving but without the metal bound rim from the collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow and now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is illustrated in Michael Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 61c.

Sotheby's. Monochrome, New York, 15 sept. 2015