Lot 3216. A rare Dingyao moulded 'Xiniu and Moon' dish, Jin dynasty (1115-1234), 13.8 cm, 5 3/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Lot sold 875,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely potted with shallow and gently rounded sides resting on a short foot, the flat centre of the interior well moulded with a recumbent mythical bovine (xiniu) gazing at the moon and constellations against temptestuous waves, the scene encircled by keyfret and classic scroll bands, applied overall with a clear creamy-white glaze pooling in recessed areas, the rim with a metal band.

Note: This dish is a fine example of moulded Ding ware, where the intricate design of a xiniu gazing at the moon has been rendered with remarkable depth and clarity and covered in a delicate ivory-coloured glaze. Another Jin dynasty moulded Dingyao dish with a similar design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Museum’s exhibition Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou. White Ding Wares from the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, cat. no. II-117.

Production of Ding ware consisted mostly of small utilitarian wares such as dishes and bowls initially left undecorated or hand carved in the 10th to 12th centuries. From the late Northern Song period, craftsmen moved away from incised decoration to using mushroom-shaped moulds which were similar to those used for casting gold and silver vessels. The clay was pressed onto the relief-decorated mould before the edges were trimmed down, to ensure the piece retained the form as well as the thinness and lightness of precious materials.

This technique allowed for the manufacture of a large number of vessels, thereby satisfying the demand of the market. It also reveals the influence of precious materials on Ding wares, as it bears a resemblance to contemporaneous silver ware and brocaded textiles. Rose Kerr, in Song Ceramics, London, 1982, p. 102, remarks that Ding ware had a ‘tendency to mimic other, more precious materials such as gold and silver, huge quantities of which were stored in palace treasuries’. Compare for example a silver dish with barbed rim, decorated with two geese amongst lotus flowers, in the Jiangxi Provincial Museum, Nanchang, illustrated in Zhongguo jin yin boli falangqi quanji [The complete collection of Chinese gold, silver, glass and enamelled wares], vol. 2, Shijiazhuang, 2004, pl. 216 right.