拍品专文
The result of C-Link Research & Development Limited Thermoluminesence Analysis number 2371GF02 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
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UNENDING VINES AND EVER-ABUNDANT OFFSPRING: A DING MELON-FORM EWER (ABSTRACT TRANSLATION FROM THE CHINESE ESSAY BY QIN DASHU, PROFESSOR OF SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND MUSEOLOGY AT PEKING UNIVERSITY)This Ding ewer offered at Christie’s in November is finely potted with a rounded lobed body supported on a low foot ring, the base incised in fine lines with a character nan ‘south’. The ewer is surmounted by a rope-twist handle simulating vines, issuing at the end three moulded leaves. The overall design creates the impression that the ewer resembles a melon borne on vines. The current ewer has a thermoluminescence test report from C-Link Research & Development Limited, and from where the sample has been taken, one can see the clay body is exceptionally fine and white, characteristic of the finest and most prized Ding wares. The way how this ewer was glazed is also noteworthy. It is fully glazed, with the exception of a very slim ring on the inner rim of the foot ring, on which the glaze had been scraped off to support firing on spurs. Such meticulous way of glaze application is rarely seen and represents the finest technique of spur-firing. Only one comparable example with the same method of glazing on the foot and with equally fine body and glaze is known, which is a Ding piece unearthed from the imperial tomb of the Northern Song Empress Yuande (943-977), mother of the Song Emperor Zhenzong, in Gongyi, Henan. Such connection suggests that the current ewer shares characteristics that are distinct to Ding wares fired as tributes for the Imperial family during the mid-to-late Northern Song period.Ding ewers of melon form are very rare. A majority of Ding wares comes in bowls and dishes, while moulded ewers with applique are rare exceptions. A few number of Ding melon-form ewers have been excavated, mostly in the territory of the Liao state, spanning across the mid-Northern Song to mid-to-late Jin dynasties. The most similar example to the present lot is a Ding ewer of closely comparable shape, glaze and clay body, excavated from no. 6 tomb located at Qahar Right Front Banner Haoqian Unit in Inner Mongolia (fig. 1). The owner of the tomb was covered in the face with a gilt-bronze mask and wrapped around the body with bronze wire, suggesting a Liao identity dating around 1032 to 1064. Another ewer of similar form was excavated from the tomb of the Liao official Zhao Kuangyu, dating to 1060, in Mouzhangzi village, Chaoyang, Liaoning province (fig. 2). However, this ewer is carved on the body with naturalistic plantain leaf motifs, which are stylistically different from plantain leaves seen on Ding wares from the late Northern Song period, but more typically seen on Longquanwu wares fired in Beijing. The glaze and clay body of this ewer are also characteristic of Longquanwu wares. Towards the late Northern Song dynasty, lobed ewers tend to be made with taller and slimmer forms, with less pronounced lobes, gradually departing from the shape of melons. One such example is a ewer, decorated on the body with applique vines and incised butterfly motifs, unearthed from a Liao tomb in Nanningzi Village, Chaoyang, Liaoning province, dating to the late Liao period (fig. 3). Towards the Jin dynasty, ewers further move away from melon form to pear form, with longer spouts and even less pronounced lobes, and are often undecorated. Their workmanship is also noticeably less refined as the ones made in mid-to-late Northern Song dynasty. One such example is a pear-shaped ewer with a vine-like handle dating to the Jin dynasty, unearthed from the Piannian site in Lishu County, Jilin province.Because most of these lobed ewers were unearthed in the northeastern part of China, and some of which were indeed fired within Liao territory, such as at Longquanwu in Beijing, many scholars in the past identified ewers like the present lot as ‘Liao wares’. However, this is inaccurate. Most of these lobed ewers, whether they are coarse or fine, were in fact fired at the Ding kilns. In 2009, the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University and the Hebei Cultural Relic Research Institute conducted a joint excavation at the Ding kilns in Hebei. The Jianciling kiln site produced Ding wares of the finest quality. Sherds of similar lobed ewers were unearthed from the stratum dating to the late Northern Song period, and one can conclude finer types of Ding ewers were produced at this kiln site. Lobed ewers of lesser quality were found in the kiln sites of Yancun and Yebei, from stratum dating to the Jin dynasty (fig. 4). Thus it is likely that some of the coarser lobed ewers found in northeast China mentioned previously were fired at these kiln sites.The present ewer has a very distinct form, and is smaller than ewers typically used for tea whipping or wine pouring. It is intriguing to find out what its functional purpose is. Its form in the shape of a melon might give us some hints. The imagery of melons forms the rebus guadie mianmian (numerous melons borne on never-ending vines), a phrase which conveys the wish for abundant offspring. As early as the Tang dynasty, vessels were made in melon forms encapsulating such auspicious wish, such as a small sancai pottery melon dating to mid-Tang period, unearthed from the basement of the pagoda at the Qingshan Temple in Lintong, Shaanxi province. Sometimes melon and butterfly motifs are also combined, since the Chinese words for melons, gua and butterflies, die, are homonyms for the first two characters in guadie mianmian. This combination is applied to some of the aforementioned excavated ewers, such as the Qahar Right Front Banner one and Nanningzi Village one. The current ewer is potted with a very small opening obstructed by a horizontal strut, which would inevitably affect its practicality as a functional water container. Hence it is more likely that it serves as a decorative piece with auspicious symbolism. One comparable example is a set of wine vessels, including a wine ewer and warming bowl, excavated from the Liuhuantun Hoard in Fuyu County, Jilin province (fig. 5). Their noticeably small sizes and impractical features suggest that they were not intended to be functional, but as decorative items to convey fortuitous wishes, or as gifts, or to be used in rituals. From naturalistic representations in the Tang dynasty, to increasingly abstract forms towards the Jin dynasty, the transformation of the forms of ewers is an insightful reflection of the ever-changing representations of auspicious meanings in Chinese art.
A DING WHITE-GLAZED MELON-SHAPED EWER
FIVE DYNASTIES-NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (907-1127)
细节
5 in. (12.5 cm.) high, box
荣誉呈献
Priscilla Kong