Page 200 - Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art II

In fact, the thin lip with “rolled edge” fnds parallels in those of other
Ding-ware bottles and vases, including ones in both white and russet Ding
ware. Originally decorated with designs in overglaze gold, a russet-glazed
Ding bottle excavated in Hefei, Anhui province, in 1983 sports a thin, fat
lip that thickens at its outer edge. (See Yuan Nanzheng, “Hefei chutu de
ziding jincai ping” [A Russet Ding Bottle with Gold Decoration Unearthed in
Hefei], Wenwu, 1988, vol. 6, pp. 86-87, fg. 1.) In addition, the collection
of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, includes a 10th- to 11th-century
white Ding bottle with compressed globular body and long slender neck;
its thin, everted lip terminates in a fnely rolled edge virtually identical in
appearance to that of the present vase. (See: Dingzhou Huazi: Yuancang
Dingyaoxi baizi tezhan / Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou: White Ding
Wares from the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014,
n.p.)
Most Ding bottles from the 11th and 12th centuries rest on a footring—
i.e., the side walls descend to terminate in a footring that surrounds a
countersunk base; on most such bottles the glaze extends virtually to the
bottom of the footring and also covers much of the base and the interior
of the footring, leaving only the bottom of the footring unglazed. (See:
Zhongguo Taoci Quanji / Chugoku Toji Zenshu [A Compendium of Chinese
Ceramics], vol. 9, Dingyao / Teiyo [Ding Ware], Shanghai, and Tokyo, 1981,
pl. 58.) By contrast, this vase has a fat, unglazed base, and, on the exterior, are pure white and only slightly translucent, transmitting a warm orange
the glaze stops two or three millimeters short of the base.
This vase’s fat base, rare among Northern Song Ding wares, recalls those
of certain late Tang and Five Dynasties ceramics—particularly those of
bottles and ewers from the Ding, Yaozhou Huangpu, and Lushan Duandian
kilns. The bases of such pieces typically are fat, unglazed, and have a
lightly chamfered edge; moreover, their glazes generally stop several
millimeters short of the base: to wit, a 10th-century, white Ding ewer
in the Harvard Art Museums has an unglazed, fat base (2009.102), as
does a 9th-century, calabash-shaped bottle with brown glaze and blue
splashes from the Lushan Duandian kilns, also at Harvard (2002.91), and
as does a 9th-century, brown-glazed ewer from the Yaozhou Huangpu
kilns and now at Harvard as well (2006.170.251). The last-named Harvard
ewer fnds a close counterpart in the dark-brown-glazed ewer from the
Yaozhou Huangpu kilns that was excavated at the Famen-si Temple site,
Shaanxi province, in 1984, and now is in the collection of the Shaanxi
Archaeological Research Institute, Xi’an. (See: Gifts of the Tang Emperors:
Hidden Treasures from the Famen Temple, Niigata: Niigata Prefectural
Museum of Art, and Tokyo: 1999, no. 73.) The Harvard white Ding ewer
(2009.102) resembles a Tang white-ware ewer excavated in 1985 in
Lincheng county, Shaanxi province. (See: Liu Yunhui, Zhou Kuiying, and
Wang Xiaomeng, eds., Shaanxi, vol. 15 in Zhang Bai, series ed., Zhongguo
Chutu Ziqi quanji / Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China,
Beijing: 2008, p. 41, no. 41.)
198
In association with the pieces mentioned above, the fat, unglazed base
suggests that this vase dates early in the Northern Song period, perhaps to
the 10th or possibly to the 11th century. The fat, unglazed base of a white
Ding ware brushwasher or small dish in the Hebeisheng Dingxian Museum
bears a brush-written inscription dated in accordance with 977—i.e., the
second year of Taiping Xingguo—which, together with the Harvard white
Ding ewer mentioned above (2002.102), indicates that at least some
10th-century Ding wares indeed were made with fat, unglazed bases.
(See: Zhongguo Shanghai Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, ed., Zhongguo
Taoci Quanji / Chugoku Toji Zenshu [A Compendium of Chinese Ceramics],
vol. 9, Dingyao / Teiyo [Ding Ware], Shanghai, and Tokyo, 1981, n.p., pl.
49.) In addition, the curators of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, have
assigned the long-necked white Ding bottle with everted lip and rolled
edge, mentioned above, to the 10th to 11th century, further bolstering the
credibility of the attribution of this vase to the early Northern Song period.
Produced at a number of small kilns in Quyang county (in western central
Hebei province, about 100 miles southwest of Beijing), Ding ware is so
named because Quyang county fell within the Dingzhou administrative
district during the Northern Song period. Elegant forms derived from
contemporaneous silver and lacquer typify the ware, as do thin walls that
result in pieces of unusually light weight. The smooth, fne-grained bodies
light when they transmit light at all. Thin and pale, their honey-colored
glazes impart a warm ivory hue, as exemplifed by this vase. Gaining
imperial favor in the tenth or early eleventh century, Ding ware was the
most preferred ware at the Imperial palace during much of the Northern
Song period.
Ding vessels from the tenth and early eleventh century are usually
undecorated. Ding vessels from the late eleventh and early twelfth century
typically sport incised and carved decoration, while those from the mid-
twelfth through the thirteenth century characteristically boast mold-
impressed decoration.
Collectors of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties
ranked Ding ware among the “fve great wares of the Song”, along with
Jun, Ru, Guan, and Ge wares. Celebrated for their porcellaneous white
wares, the Ding kilns also produced pieces with russet and black glazes.
Although not imperial kilns per se—that is, they were not operated by
the government and did not produce ceramics exclusively for the imperial
household—the Ding kilns nevertheless supplied substantial quantities of
ceramic ware to the palace in the late tenth, eleventh, and early twelfth
centuries.
Ding wares were fred in small, mound-shaped kilns known in Chinese as
mantou yao , or “dumpling kilns”, the name resulting from their similarity
in shape to that of Chinese dumplings, or mantou. Although fred with
wood in the late Tang (AD 618–907) and Five Dynasties (AD 907–960)
periods—their earliest phase of development—the Ding kilns came to rely
on coal as fuel beginning in the tenth century. As a reducing atmosphere is
diffcult to achieve when fring with coal, most Northern Song Ding vessels
were fred in an oxidizing atmosphere, which explains the ivory hue of the
glaze.
Robert D. Mowry,
Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus, Harvard Art Museums,
and Senior Consultant, Christie’s