Page 46 - Song Ceramics From a Distinguished Collection, April 5, 2017 Hong Kong

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A RARE DINGYAO MOULDED ‘XINIU AND 金 定窰印花犀牛望月紋盤
MOON’ DISH
JIN DYNASTY

finely potted with shallow and gently rounded sides resting
on a short foot, the flat centre of the interior well moulded
with a recumbent mythical bovine (xiniu) gazing at the moon
and constellations against temptestuous waves, the scene
encircled by keyfret and classic scroll bands, applied overall
with a clear creamy-white glaze pooling in recessed areas, the
rim with a metal band
13.8 cm, 5⅜ in.

HK$ 200,000-300,000
US$ 25,800-38,700

This dish is a fine example of moulded Ding ware, where
the intricate design of a xiniu gazing at the moon has been
rendered with remarkable depth and clarity and covered in a
delicate ivory-coloured glaze. Another Jin dynasty moulded
Dingyao dish with a similar design in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, was included in the Museum’s exhibition
Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou. White Ding Wares from the
Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, cat.
no. II-117.

Production of Ding ware consisted mostly of small utilitarian
wares such as dishes and bowls initially left undecorated
or hand carved in the 10th to 12th centuries. From the late
Northern Song period, craftsmen moved away from incised
decoration to using mushroom-shaped moulds which were
similar to those used for casting gold and silver vessels. The
clay was pressed onto the relief-decorated mould before
the edges were trimmed down, to ensure the piece retained
the form as well as the thinness and lightness of precious
materials.

This technique allowed for the manufacture of a large number
of vessels, thereby satisfying the demand of the market. It
also reveals the influence of precious materials on Ding wares,
as it bears a resemblance to contemporaneous silver ware
and brocaded textiles. Rose Kerr, in Song Ceramics, London,
1982, p. 102, remarks that Ding ware had a ‘tendency to mimic
other, more precious materials such as gold and silver, huge
quantities of which were stored in palace treasuries’. Compare
for example a silver dish with barbed rim, decorated with two
geese amongst lotus flowers, in the Jiangxi Provincial Museum,
Nanchang, illustrated in Zhongguo jin yin boli falangqi quanji
[The complete collection of Chinese gold, silver, glass and
enamelled wares], vol. 2, Shijiazhuang, 2004, pl. 216 right.

44 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比