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Lot Essay
This magnificent Ding ware dish is rare and important both for its size and for its carved decoration of a powerful writhing long dragon. Long dragons (as opposed to chi dragons) are rare on all Northern Song dynasty ceramics, even those destined for the court. However, it is significant that amongst the excavated Ru wares, which were made for the court at the first truly imperial kiln, a small number of pieces have been found with carved decoration of dragons. Two bowls have been published - one with a dragon in the interior and another with a dragon on the exterior (illustrated by Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Research Institute in Ruyao de xin faxian, Beijing, 1991, pls. 21-24). There are strong similarities between the carved long dragons on these Ru vessels and the dragon on the current large Ding ware dish. This dish was made at a time when the Ding kilns were at their height in terms of the quality of their products and also their popularity at court. It seems very likely that this dish was one of those fine Ding wares destined for the court of the Northern Song emperor.
Although a limited number of Ding ware dishes are known with moulded designs of dragons amongst clouds, such as the dish in the collection of the Shanghai Museum (illustrated in Shanghai Bowuguan suocang - Zhongguo taoci mingpin zhan, 1995, p. 37, no. 22), Ding wares with carved long dragons are even more rare. Fragments of Ding ware dishes with carved designs of dragons have been found at the kilns site of Jiancicun, Quyangxian, Hebei province. One of these fragments was published in Wenwu, 1965, vol. 6, pl. 1:9, while another is illustrated in Kiln Sites of Ancient China - Recent Finds of Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1980, p. 149, pl. 329. A Ding ware cup with carved dragon decoration on the exterior was excavated in 1981 in the southern part of the Quyang xian kiln site (illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan- Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, 266, 318).
A Ding ware dish of similar size, form, and decoration to the current example is preserved from the Qing court collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelains of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 84, no. 75). Another similar dish, preserved in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 79. Two similar, although slightly smaller, examples are also known. One is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation (illustrated by M. Medley in Illustrated Catalogue of Ting and Allied Wares, London, 1980, pl. III, no. 14), while the other is illustrated by G. Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu 12 Song, Tokyo, 1977, p. 165, no. 144. However, the collection from which this latter dish comes is not published. A similar dish formerly in the collection of Carl Kempe is illustrated in The World's Great Collections: Oriental Ceramics 8 Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Tokyo, 1982, fig. 113. A smaller Ding ware dish with a long dragon roundel in the centre of the dish's interior is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated by S. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989 edition, p. 88, pl. 81). A Ding ware basin in the National Palace Museum, with similar carved long dragon decoration, is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Dragon-motif Porcelain, Taipei, 1983, no. 3. A Ding ware dish from the Palmer Collection, similar to the current example was sold in our Hong Kong rooms 29 September 1992, lot 452.
Although a limited number of Ding ware dishes are known with moulded designs of dragons amongst clouds, such as the dish in the collection of the Shanghai Museum (illustrated in Shanghai Bowuguan suocang - Zhongguo taoci mingpin zhan, 1995, p. 37, no. 22), Ding wares with carved long dragons are even more rare. Fragments of Ding ware dishes with carved designs of dragons have been found at the kilns site of Jiancicun, Quyangxian, Hebei province. One of these fragments was published in Wenwu, 1965, vol. 6, pl. 1:9, while another is illustrated in Kiln Sites of Ancient China - Recent Finds of Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1980, p. 149, pl. 329. A Ding ware cup with carved dragon decoration on the exterior was excavated in 1981 in the southern part of the Quyang xian kiln site (illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan- Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, 266, 318).
A Ding ware dish of similar size, form, and decoration to the current example is preserved from the Qing court collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelains of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 84, no. 75). Another similar dish, preserved in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 79. Two similar, although slightly smaller, examples are also known. One is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation (illustrated by M. Medley in Illustrated Catalogue of Ting and Allied Wares, London, 1980, pl. III, no. 14), while the other is illustrated by G. Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu 12 Song, Tokyo, 1977, p. 165, no. 144. However, the collection from which this latter dish comes is not published. A similar dish formerly in the collection of Carl Kempe is illustrated in The World's Great Collections: Oriental Ceramics 8 Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Tokyo, 1982, fig. 113. A smaller Ding ware dish with a long dragon roundel in the centre of the dish's interior is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated by S. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989 edition, p. 88, pl. 81). A Ding ware basin in the National Palace Museum, with similar carved long dragon decoration, is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Dragon-motif Porcelain, Taipei, 1983, no. 3. A Ding ware dish from the Palmer Collection, similar to the current example was sold in our Hong Kong rooms 29 September 1992, lot 452.