Lot 258. A fine and rare 'Ding' lobed bowl, Northern Song dynasty, 20cm., 7 7/8 in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 GBP. Lot sold 636,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the six gently curved lobes rising from a short tapering foot to an indented everted rim, finely and freely carved and combed to the interior with a medallion enclosing a leafy lotus spray, encircled in each lobe with alternating leafy lotus sprays and swimming ducks all among waves, covered overall with a clear ivory glaze pooling in characteristic tear-drops down the exterior, the rim copper bound.

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co., London (paper label to the base).

Exhibited: Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat. no. 110, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

Literature: 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, 1953, Stockholm, 1953, pls. 84, 85, fig. 73.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 456.

Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 64a, fig. 8e.

The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 108.

Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 658.

Note: The present bowl represents the superb stylistic achievements of the 'Ding' potter and the carving is done in an exceptionally crisp and deep manner, which accentuates the flowing lines of the decoration. 'Ding' wares are ranked among the 'five great wares of the Song', a term used by collectors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, and the Dingzhou kilns have been identified at Quyang in Ding county, Hebei province. Celebrated for their thin potting, fine white body, which does not require a slip to appear white after firing, and an ivory-coloured glaze which tends to run down in somewhat darker 'tears', 'Ding' wares became renowned for their elegant forms that often derived from contemporaneous silver and lacquer vessels. It was no wonder that they found favour with the court and wealthy monasteries during the Song and Jin periods.

Another characteristic of 'Ding' ware is the use of metal to bind the rim. This was done in part to conceal the unglazed rim as wares were stacked upside-down in their saggers or firing containers and the mouth rim wiped free of glaze to prevent it from attaching to the kiln furniture. The contrasting colour of the distinctive bronze, copper, and sometimes precious metal rims, also enhanced the aesthetic beauty of the wares while setting the 'Ding' ware apart from the ordinary. 

Ducks, symbolic of a happy marriage, and the lotus, one of the Buddhist Eight Auspicious Symbols, were popular decorative motifs with Song dynasty decorators and often featured on ceramics. However it is unusual to find a bowl with alternating ducks and lotus blooms incised into the moulded panels of the wall. Only one other identical bowl from the Qing Court collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is known, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty I, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 61.