A VERY RARE LARGE DING CARVED 'FISH' BOWL

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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMANA Rare Ding Ware Incense BurnerRose KerrMuseum Expert Advisor, Hong KongFormer Keeper of the Far Eastern Department, Victoria & Albert MuseumDing wares enjoyed high status during the Five Dynasties, Northern Song and Jin periods, both at court and in wealthy Buddhist monasteries.1 Official interest in the kilns was intense, and a government Office for Porcelain Tax Affairs, often shortened to Ciyao wushi or simply Yao wushi, was established in the area in the Five Dynasties period, an event recorded in a stele dating to 957.2 Some Ding vessels were inscribed “official” or “new official”, reflecting their exalted status, and Ding wares were requisitioned by the palace all through the Northern Song period. Ding ware was also extolled as one of the “Five Classic Wares” of the Song dynasty by scholars of the Ming and Qing dynasties, thereby further enhancing their desirability and value down through the ages. As befitted their exalted status, Ding wares had already attracted attention from Song dynasty scholars such as Lu Yü, Ye Zhi and Zhou Mi, but it was the early Ming author Cao Zhao who first described their quality and value as collectables in some detail. To quote from him:Among ancient Ding ware, pieces with fine body and white, lustrous glaze are valuable, while those that are coarse and yellowish are less so. Genuine items have “tear drop” markings on the exterior…..The best Ding wares were made in the Xuanhe and Zhenghe reign periods [1119-25 and 1111-7]..... if it is damaged, cracked or dull, it will be inexpensive.Cao also said that in his time Ding ware was already more expensive than fine imperial wares from Jingdezhen.3 Today, they are no less valued. Regular Ding ware bowls and dishes are eagerly sought by collectors, while rare forms (like this artefact) are consummate finds.This exceptional piece is an incense burner, the cover fashioned in the form of two mandarin ducks, their necks lovingly entwined, and the stand modelled in the form of a lotus flower with upstanding petals. Although the piece has been restored, one can clearly see the extraordinary modelling of a complex design in ceramic. The graceful ducks’ necks recall carving in white jade, for such sinuous curves are uncommonly achieved in ceramic. Even more noteworthy is the modelling of the lotus petals that stand up around the lid, framing the two ducks. Each petal was separately modelled and applied to the upper section of the stand, complete with small, curling sepals. Their placement conveys both fragility and movement. The lower section of the stand rests on small, shaped feet, with above them a band of cartouches containing a scrolling design and small lion heads. Above the cartouches is a ring of pendant lotus petals that terminate in a ruyi-shaped pattern. The pendant lotus petals are moulded with a scrolling design that matches the cartouches. Inside the bowl the character yue月is incised upside down on one side, beneath the rim.The form of the censer suggests marital happiness and fidelity, for mandarin ducks and lotus give the saying: May you have a harmonious marriage and may you give birth to many sons. The lotus is the only flower that blooms with the seedpod already in place, and stands for the early arrival of sons.4 Mandarin ducks mate for life, and their graceful, affectionate pose with necks intertwined emphasises a close and loving relationship.However the lotus flower also suggests a connection with Buddhism, as does the white colour of the vessel. Buddhist temples and Buddhist practitioners liked to employ white or colourless translucent vessels, for they transmitted light and thereby symbolised the transmission of the Buddha’s radiance, that transcends and transforms. White jade was popular, as was rock crystal and glass. Thin white ceramic vessels also occurred among the possessions of Buddhists. For example, a tomb dating to the early 12th century and associated with a Buddhist monastery, and probably belonging to a high-ranking monk, was excavated in Liaoning. The walls of the tomb chamber were inlaid with fourteen Sanskrit texts in gold, while the burial yielded exquisite porcelain wares of Ding and qingbai ware.5 Both of these ceramics are white porcelain, one from the north of China and one from the south. Both can be fashioned with thin walls to transmit light, thus making both types suitable for a Buddhist context. It is possible that incense burners of this shape, with lotus stands surmounted by paired ducks, were originally created in metal. Gold or silver vessels would have been easier to manufacture through shaping and beating, while bronze vessels could be cast. To produce the shapes in ceramic was altogether more difficult. Nevertheless, the most prestigious kilns of the Northern Song period attempted the task. Recent excavations at the Ru ware kiln sites have revealed a number of stand bases moulded with lotus petals. (fig. 1) A whole lotus base from a censer in biscuit, and a number of biscuit and glazed sherds, are illustrated by Ye Zhemin.6 The glazed sherds demonstrate that the petals were carved in great detail, with a line round the edge of the petal and a raised nipple in the centre. However, the petals form a solid shape, unlike the fragile, free-standing petals of the Ding ware vessel.Duck censers with lotus bases were also manufactured Yaozhou and at Jingdezhen, in qingbai porcelain.7 (fig. 2) Although intricate, the qingbai versions were made with the lotus petal bases fashioned in solid form, without the free-standing artistry of the lotus petals on this Ding ware incense burner.Where was such a complex piece of ceramic made? Ding ware was produced at several sites in Hebei province. The ware derives its name from Dingxian, although in fact the kilns were not located there, but at Jianzicun and Yanshancun in Quyang County .8 Quyang county was regulated by Dingzhou prefecture during the Song period, hence the name “Ding ware” and the confusion over its site location. It was a Japanese scholar, Fujio Koyama, who first investigated the kilns in 1941. The vast quantities of sherds and other material collected on that occasion were preserved at the Idemitsu Museum of Art, the MOA Museum and the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts in Japan, and have been studied in some depth.9 Further exploratory work was carried out by Chen Wanli and Feng Xianming in the 1950s. Excavation and survey of the vast waster heaps took place in 1961-2, and work has continued to refine knowledge of the products and periodisation of the kilns since then. Material from Chinese excavations is kept in the Cultural Bureau at Quyang and in the Dingzhou City Museum.10 Ding wares were created from relatively non-plastic, white, porcellanous clays. The predominant potting method was wheel-throwing, with either carved or moulded designs, the latter first employed in the mid 11th century and employing a single interior mould. The censer is a multi-piece item, its component parts made both by throwing and moulding. The basic, inner vessel was thrown, while the base, petals and lid were moulded, and component parts luted together to form the complex whole. The act of pressing clay into a mould is graphically illustrated by the underside of the base, which shows concentric rings of small finger prints. The censer would have been enormously difficult to form and fire, which makes its survival noteworthy.One feature of the piece is the intricate moulded patterns present in the cartouches and lotus petals of the base. Elaborate moulded surface designs were produced by engraving leatherhard convex ceramic press-moulds before firing, giving rich and detailed surface ornament, similar to repoussé work on silver, or to brocaded patterns on silk. The manual Gegu yaolun by Cao Zhao, published in 1388, describes how different qualities of Ding ware were regarded11:The best have incised designs, the second best are plain, while those with brocade patterns are of third quality.In fact, this censer incorporates all three styles of decoration; incised, plain and brocade.Items were fired in saggers, because Ding kilns were of mantou type and from the 10th century used coal for fuel. This gave great heat in the 1,300-1,340°C temperature range, but could result in items being damaged from the spitting coal, if they were not protected by firing boxes. Mantou kilns gave rise to oxidising firing conditions. This gave Ding ware its characteristic warm ivory tone and thicker dribbles of transparent glaze known to Chinese connoisseurs as “tear drops”. The exterior of the censer base has a glaze that is cream-toned where it runs thick, while dribbles of glaze inside the lid show distinct “tear drop” effects.Finally, we should consider the unusual shape of the piece. A two-part incense burner is not a form usually attempted in Ding ware, which makes this example extremely rare. Why would potters have striven to manufacture a vessel so unsuited to their raw material? Perhaps because incense burners were themselves objects of sublime purpose. The burning of incense has a long history in China, and as early as the Zhou dynasty artemisia was employed, its dense clouds of aromatic smoke serving to mask unpleasant smells and disperse insect pests. During the Qin and Han periods many philosophers sought to achieve the secrets of immortality, and censers in the form of immortal paradises were made to burn both vegetable and animal incenses. Plant incense was derived from cassia, camphor, liquorice and fennel, and animal perfumes came from civet and musk. By the Song dynasty, imported fragrances such as sandalwood, garuwood, ambergris and gum benzoin supplemented indigenous perfumes.12 Perfume and incense burners were widely used in formal imperial and religious rituals, continuing long and well-established traditions. The wafting incense smoke represented the qi or vital force of the cosmos, and would have made an impressive sight as it drifted out through a channel in the lid and through the two ducks’ beaks.

A VERY RARE LARGE DING CARVED 'FISH' BOWL

NORTHERN SONG-JIN DYNASTY (960-1234)

Details

A VERY RARE LARGE DING CARVED 'FISH' BOWL
NORTHERN SONG-JIN DYNASTY (960-1234)
The bowl is sturdily potted with tall rounded sides rising from a short foot ring, the interior is carved with a large carp swimming in a pond and the exterior is carved with four rows of overlapping petals. The vessel is covered overall with an ivory-coloured glaze with the mouth rim left unglazed to show the pale body.
13 in. (33 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong 31 October, 1995, lot 343

Literature

Sotheby's Hong Kong, Sotheby's Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 127, no. 103

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Lot Essay

Ding bowls of this large size and form are rare to find. The bold, free and expressive strokes seen to the interior of this bowl indicate that this is a particularly successful example of incised Ding ware produced at the period. Compare this to a Ding bowl from the Qing Court collection, similarly decorated with fish to the interior, illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 64-65, no. 56. Another example from the Percival David Collection is illustrated by M. Tregear in Song Ceramics, London, 1982, pl. 29. The British Museum also has another comparable bowl illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, 1981, no. 56. A bowl also carved with fish designs to the interior is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, pl. 31. A slightly smaller Ding bowl (26.7 cm. diam.) carved with three fish swimming amidst waterweeds, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3212 (fig .1).

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