Page 135 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

Gold and silver vessels were most likely made for use at the Imperial court during the Song
dynasty, and extant examples are rare, especially gold examples. A gold dish similarly chased in
the center with two leafy stems, each bearing a lotus-like fower below a band of ‘cash’ diaper
pattern on the fat rim, in the collection of the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott, is illustrated by Dr. Paul
Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971-1972, p. 64, no.
90. Also illustrated, p. 65, no. 92, is a silver dish chased with a large fowering peony stem that
flls the interior below a band of ‘cash’ diaper on the rim, which is also from the collection of the
Hon. Senator Hugh Scott. Both of these dishes are illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die
Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1994, the gold dish, p. 230, pl. 272, the silver dish, pl. 273.
Gold and silver dishes of this type appear to have served as inspiration for dishes made at the
Ding kilns during the 11th and 12th centuries. (Fig. 1) Such dishes would have been used as service
sets in a sumptuous banquet context, probably at the imperial court. Ding dishes decorated in the
interior with fuently carved foral motifs are represented by the dishes illustrated by Tsai Meifen,
Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou: White Ding Wares from the collection of the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, 2014, p. 69, no. II-24 and pp. 72-73, no. II 27.28; and another example in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum -
32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 76, pl. 67. See, also, the Ding dish carved
in the interior with two large peony blossoms borne on leafy, undulating stems below a band of
classic scroll on the rim, sold at Christie’s New York, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics - The
Linyushanren Collection, Part III, 22 March 2018, lot 504. Unlike the decoration on the interior of
the Ding dishes, the decoration on the present gold dish forms a dense, medallion-like design that
forms the center of the otherwise plain interior.

Fig. 1 A carved Ding ‘peony’ dish, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234),
sold Christie’s New York: The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics -
The Linyushanren Collection, Part III, 22 March 2018, lot 504.

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