the deep gently rounded sides rising from a waisted recessed base to an everted rim, freely incised to the interior and exterior with scrolling leafy lotus and covered overall in a clear ivory glaze, the rim copper bound.

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co. Ltd., London, X249.

Exhibited: Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 534.

Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat. no. 106, 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. 77, 78, fig. 67.

Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 62a.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 411.

Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, pl. 35

Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 613.

Note: The present bowl is an elegant example of the understated beauty of incised 'Ding' ware. Simple and sketchy lines successfully capture the spirit and the grace of the flower, while harmoniously accentuating the refined quality of the porcelain body. One of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism, the lotus became a symbol of purity and integrity because it rises clean out of the muddy water in which it grows and was a popular motif throughout the Song dynasty, frequently featuring on white-glazed 'Ding' ware.