Page 85 - Sotheby's Arcadian beauty Song Pottery Oct. 3, 2018

Adapted from an archaic bronze form, this exquisite incense May 2008, lot 238; and a much smaller fragmentary example
burner belongs to a classic group of ceramic incense burners recovered from the Ding kiln site in Quyang, Hebei province,
and is a particularly rare example of its type. Although this illustrated in Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Dingyao/
unassuming silhouette was produced in various proportions Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites: Ding Kiln of
and arrangements of raised ribs, it is extremely unusual to China, Beijing, 2012, pl. 108.
find the ribs so evenly spaced and perfectly formed as on the
This group of incense burners reflects the major impact on the
present. The delicate rings not only accentuate the beauty of
arts that resulted from a drastic political shift during the early
the form and glaze but also attest to its maker’s command
Song dynasty, from a society ruled by a hereditary aristocracy
over the medium.
to one governed by a central bureaucracy of scholar-officials
Five Ding incense burners belonging to this group, which selected through civil service examinations. The resulting rise
illustrate the individuality of each potted piece, were included of Neo-Confucian ideals emphasised the importance of history
in the exhibition Gugong lidai xiangju tulu/A Special Exhibition in the pursuit of virtue. The increased interest in antiquities led
of Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, to a revival of archaic jade and bronze forms that Song potters
National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1994, cat. nos 35-39, skilfully adapted into their repertoire. The present incense
together with a roughly contemporary Jingdezhen copy, cat. burner finds its roots in gilt-bronze tripod wine vessels (zun)
no. 44, a later Dehua copy, cat. no. 67, and a ‘Guang ware’ of the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), generally supported
copy, probably from Guangzhou, cat. no. 71, all from the on bear-shaped feet, fitted with ring handles and supplied
collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Three of the with a cover, such as an example decorated with animals,
five Ding incense burners in Taipei were also included in the that is engraved with an inscription identifying it as a wine
exhibition Dingzhou hua ci. Yuan zang Dingyaoxi baici tezhan/ vessel (jiu zun) and dating it in accordance with the year 26
Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou. White Ding wares from the BC, illustrated in Li Xueqin, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji:
collection of the National Palace Museum, National Palace Gongyi meishu bian [Complete series on Chinese art: Arts
Museum, Taipei, 2014, cat. no. II-5.6.7, all with fitted wooden and crafts section], 5: Qingtong qi [Bronzes], vol. 2, Beijing,
covers with Yuan (1279-1368) or Ming (1368-1644) jade 1986, pl. 217, together with another gilt-bronze wine zun with
carvings as finials, a type known to have been commissioned matching tripod stand in the Palace Museum, Beijing, pl. 236,
by the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723-1735) from the palace which is decorated with a triple raised band in the centre and
workshops. single bands at the rim and base, and attributed to the reign of
Guangwudi, AD 25-57.
Further incense burners include one, in the Palace Museum,
Beijing, published in Selection of Ding Ware. The Palace The ribbed tripod form was also adopted at other official kilns
Museum Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, that produced wares for the court, for example, the Ru kilns in
2012, pl. 41, together with a smaller version excavated from Baofeng, Henan province, see Wang Qingzheng, Fan Dongqing
Tomb 1 in Yangjiawan, Changsha, Hunan province, and now & Zhou Lili, Ruyao de faxian/The Discovery of Ru Kiln, Hong
in the Hunan Provincial Museum, pl. 40; another in the Tianjin Kong, 1991, pls 59 and 66, for a piece from the collection
City Art Museum, Tianjin, published in Tianjin Shi Yishu of Sir Percival David, now in the British Museum, London,
Bowuguan cang ci/Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal and one from the Palace Museum, Beijing respectively; and
Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 26; and another illustrated at the Hangzhou guan (‘official’) kilns, see a piece in the
in Hsien-ch’i Tseng & Robert Paul Dart, The Charles B. Hoyt National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s
Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts: Boston, vol. II, Boston, exhibition Gui si chenxing. Qing gong chuanshi 12 zhi 14
1972, pl. 29. See also an incense burner, from the collection shiji qingci tezhan/Precious as the Morning Star. 12th-14th
of the Chang Foundation, sold in our London rooms, 11th Century Celadons in the Qing Court Collection, National
December 1984, lot 169, and again in these rooms, 3rd Palace Museum, Taipei, 2016, cat. no. II-2, where the author
October 2017, lot 10, from the Le Cong Tang collection; mentions, p. 67, related examples excavated from both the
another from the Carl Kempe collection and illustrated in Bo Laohudong and the Jiaotanxia kiln sites in Hangzhou.
Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection,
Stockholm, 1964, pl. 447, sold in our London rooms, 14th

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