Lot 20. Property from a Japanese private collection. A large carved Dingyao 'lotus' bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Hauteur : 8 cm ; Diamètre : 25,3 cm, boîte en bois japonaise. Vendu : EUR 22,680 (Estimation : EUR 30,000 – EUR 50,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023

Provenance: With Uragami Sokyu-do Co., Ltd, Tokyo, in the 1990s.

Note: This elegantly potted and decorated Dingyao bowl was made at the apogee of incised decoration at the Ding kilns - the Northern Song period. The decorator, working with a fine white body and slightly ivory-toned transparent glaze, has made subtle use of incised parallel lines to emphasize the major parts of the design.
Lotus is a popular decorative theme on Dingyao wares, for its quality of ‘rising from the mud unsullied, bathed by clear waves but not seductive’, as expressed in a famous poem, Passion for the Lotus by Song scholar-official Zhou Dunyi (1017- 1073). Another symbolic meaning of Lotus is derived from its phonetic similarity with the phrase ‘incorruptible’ in Chinese. Therefore, vessels decorated with lotus were particularly suitable for the scholar official class.
See a carved Dingyao bowl carved with lotus although of a different shape sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 26 November 2018, lot 8005.

Christie's. ART D'ASIE, Paris, 12 december 2023