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Lot Essay
This bowl, formerly in the Bernat collection, belongs to an extremely rare and highly-prized group of Song dynasty Ding wares. Many scholars and connoisseurs believe that the black glaze developed on these prestigious Ding wares is the finest black glaze ever produced in China, but few examples have been preserved into the present day. Plain black Ding ware bowls are rare, but those with delicate russet streaking, like the current bowl, are especially rare.
A Ding bowl similar to the current vessel is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan and is published in Songci tezhan mulu, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1978, p. 34, no. 4, where its size is given as D: 20 cm., and the glaze is described as zhegu ban, partridge [feather] mottled. The glaze on the current bowl is of an even deeper tone and more lustrous texture than the National Palace Museum example. Another similar Ding ware bowl, but with larger russet splashes, was excavated in 1955 from the Zhao tombs at Shijiazhuang, Hebei, and is now in the Hebei Provincial Museum (see Zhongguo wenwu qinghua daquan, Taibei, 1993, p. 274, no. 346).
A fourth bowl of this type is in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, and was published by Robert Mowry in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers - Chinese Brown- and Black-glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1996, p. 111, no. 16. The Sackler bowl was included in an unpublished scientific study undertaken by Eva Sander in 1987. Analysis of the body of the bowl confirmed that it was of similar chemical composition to that of white sherds found at the Ding kiln site, Jiancicun, Hebei province (Eva Sander, 'A Comparative Study of Northern Dark-Glazed Stoneware Bowls from the Song Dynasty', Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 1987).
Although surviving Ding ware bowls of this type are exceptionally rare, they seem to have inspired potters at other Song dynasty kilns. Two visually similar bowls in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard, appear to have been made at kilns working in the Cizhou tradition, one possibly at the Guantai kiln in Hebei province (see: Mowry, op. cit., p. 136-7, no. 34) and one at the Baofeng kilns in Henan (ibid. p. 140-1, no. 36). The first of these was also included in the Sander scientific study, and although it is made of very light-coloured clay, analysis showed that its body differs from the Ding ware body of the current example. Both the Cizhou-type bowls appear to have been fired at a lower temperature than Ding ware and lack the resonance of the current vessel.
Feint traces of gilt decoration can be seen on the surface of the glaze of a small number of dark-glazed Ding wares. Two black-glazed Ding bowls with the remains of gold decoration were exhibited at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and illustrated in Song Ceramics, Asahi Shimbun, 1999, pp. 74-5, nos. 37 and 38. One of these from the collection of the MOA Museum of Art, Atami, is designated an Important Cultural Property, while the other is and Important Art Object.
A Ding bowl similar to the current vessel is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan and is published in Songci tezhan mulu, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1978, p. 34, no. 4, where its size is given as D: 20 cm., and the glaze is described as zhegu ban, partridge [feather] mottled. The glaze on the current bowl is of an even deeper tone and more lustrous texture than the National Palace Museum example. Another similar Ding ware bowl, but with larger russet splashes, was excavated in 1955 from the Zhao tombs at Shijiazhuang, Hebei, and is now in the Hebei Provincial Museum (see Zhongguo wenwu qinghua daquan, Taibei, 1993, p. 274, no. 346).
A fourth bowl of this type is in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, and was published by Robert Mowry in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers - Chinese Brown- and Black-glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1996, p. 111, no. 16. The Sackler bowl was included in an unpublished scientific study undertaken by Eva Sander in 1987. Analysis of the body of the bowl confirmed that it was of similar chemical composition to that of white sherds found at the Ding kiln site, Jiancicun, Hebei province (Eva Sander, 'A Comparative Study of Northern Dark-Glazed Stoneware Bowls from the Song Dynasty', Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 1987).
Although surviving Ding ware bowls of this type are exceptionally rare, they seem to have inspired potters at other Song dynasty kilns. Two visually similar bowls in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard, appear to have been made at kilns working in the Cizhou tradition, one possibly at the Guantai kiln in Hebei province (see: Mowry, op. cit., p. 136-7, no. 34) and one at the Baofeng kilns in Henan (ibid. p. 140-1, no. 36). The first of these was also included in the Sander scientific study, and although it is made of very light-coloured clay, analysis showed that its body differs from the Ding ware body of the current example. Both the Cizhou-type bowls appear to have been fired at a lower temperature than Ding ware and lack the resonance of the current vessel.
Feint traces of gilt decoration can be seen on the surface of the glaze of a small number of dark-glazed Ding wares. Two black-glazed Ding bowls with the remains of gold decoration were exhibited at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and illustrated in Song Ceramics, Asahi Shimbun, 1999, pp. 74-5, nos. 37 and 38. One of these from the collection of the MOA Museum of Art, Atami, is designated an Important Cultural Property, while the other is and Important Art Object.