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Lot Essay
The molded designs seen on late Northern Song and Jin dynasty Ding wares are particularly fine. Not only is the body material of the vessels themselves very fine-grained, but the molds made to decorate them were also made of similarly fine-grained clay. This material allowed very precise cutting of the intaglio design into the surface of the mold. It was, however, the skill of the mold makers at the Ding kilns that produced the careful and minute modulation of the design that would appear in low relief on the surface of the finished Ding vessel. The fact that the molds were fired only to a low temperature, and were still very porous when used, allowed them to draw water from the clay of the damp vessels pressed onto them, facilitating the more precise impression.
The decoration on the current example is a well-composed design of two pairs of fish swimming amongst lotus and waterweed, surrounded by lotus scrolls with two phoenixes. This produces a beautifully balanced design with a central roundel of lotus and an additional plant cluster associated with each fish. This is an elegant variant of the more usual depiction of a single pair of fish among waves or lotus. A fine example of the latter type is a bowl in the Kwan collection, illustrated in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994, pp. 96-7, no. 30. A dish with two molded fish and lotus was exhibited in Tokyo and published in Special Exhibition - Jixiang - Auspicious Motifs in Chinese Art, Tokyo National Museum, 1998, p 67, no. 43.
Various versions of the theme of a pair of fish with lotus can be seen on molded Ding dishes in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. These include a dish with chrysanthemum-petalled sides, and two shallow dishes with rounded sides. These are illustrated in Dingyao baici tezhan tulu, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, nos. 94, 107 and 108, respectively. The shape of this basin with its straight sides and bowstring line around the exterior is seen on a somewhat smaller molded Ding ware vessel in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 87, no. 78, where it is dated to the Song dynasty.
The decoration on the current example is a well-composed design of two pairs of fish swimming amongst lotus and waterweed, surrounded by lotus scrolls with two phoenixes. This produces a beautifully balanced design with a central roundel of lotus and an additional plant cluster associated with each fish. This is an elegant variant of the more usual depiction of a single pair of fish among waves or lotus. A fine example of the latter type is a bowl in the Kwan collection, illustrated in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994, pp. 96-7, no. 30. A dish with two molded fish and lotus was exhibited in Tokyo and published in Special Exhibition - Jixiang - Auspicious Motifs in Chinese Art, Tokyo National Museum, 1998, p 67, no. 43.
Various versions of the theme of a pair of fish with lotus can be seen on molded Ding dishes in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. These include a dish with chrysanthemum-petalled sides, and two shallow dishes with rounded sides. These are illustrated in Dingyao baici tezhan tulu, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, nos. 94, 107 and 108, respectively. The shape of this basin with its straight sides and bowstring line around the exterior is seen on a somewhat smaller molded Ding ware vessel in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 87, no. 78, where it is dated to the Song dynasty.