Lot 80. A moulded ‘Ding’ ‘phoenix’ dish, Jin dynasty (1115-1234). Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 HKD (6,773 - 9,031 EUR). Lot sold 325,000 HKD (36,690 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

the shallow rounded sides supported on a short neatly cut foot, crisply moulded to the interior with a central medallion enclosing two stylised floral blooms borne on meandering foliate scrolls, all encircled by a pair of phoenix in flight amongst similar floral scrolls, the details of the plumage meticulously picked out, encircled by a key-fret band just below the rim, covered overall in an ivory glaze pooling to characteristic teardrops on the exterior, the rim bound with silver; 17.8 cm, 7 in.

Provenance: Naitō, Japan, 14th March 1965.
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1965 (£225).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1965 (£350).

Note: A similar dish in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is illustrated in Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 85a; another but lacking the flower sprays, from the Axel and Nora Lundgren collection and now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is published in Basil Gray, Sung Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1984, pl. 54, and two similar dishes of slightly larger size were sold at Christie’s London, 13th December 1982, lot 417, and 8th December 1986, lot 230. See also a reconstructed bowl moulded with a similar pattern, excavated in Quyang county, Hebei province, and illustrated in Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites. Ding Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, pl. 156.