Page 50 - Song Ceramics From a Distinguished Collection, April 5, 2017 Hong Kong
P. 50
THE SIR ALAN BARLOW DING BOTTLE
REGINA KRAHL
The Ding kilns created some of the most prestigious ceramics Findings, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 2013, pp. 218-
in the Northern Song (960-1127) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties, 242).
which enjoyed popularity not only at the Northern Song and
Jin imperial courts but even, as has recently been discovered, Most of the pieces and fragments thus identi ed are, however,
at the court of the Southern Song (1127-1279), located far bowls and dishes. Ding bottles, vases or jars, in fact any
away in Hangzhou in south China. Ding wares are among upright shapes, were extremely rarely produced by the Ding
the most delicately potted vessels, and their ne near-white white ware kilns around Baoding city in Hebei province, which
body, thin, translucent, ivory-tinged glaze, and understated had specialised in the production of round, open shapes.
decoration give them an elegant and precious appearance and Open shapes could quickly be thrown on the potter’s wheel
a distinctive identity. and manufactured in large quantities. Closed, upright shapes,
especially with a tall slender neck as seen on the present vase,
That they were used at court is attested by inscriptions on represented a much greater challenge, requiring precision in
handed-down Ding pieces as well as excavated fragments. throwing to make the separately thrown parts t, and diligence
Besides pieces incised before ring with the characters guan in joining to ensure neat and rm alignment, and were much
(‘o cial’), xin guan (‘new o cial’), Shangshiju (‘Palace Food more likely to collapse or tilt in the kiln. They are exceedingly
Service’), Shangyaoju (‘Palace Medical Service’), etc., many rare.
examples have been discovered that were identi ed by carved
inscriptions after ring, such as Deshou and Deshouyuan, a Only one example closely comparable to the present piece
reference to the Deshou Hall, the residence of the Emperor appears to be preserved, a bottle from the Qing (1644-1911)
Gaozong (r. 1127-62) after he had abdicated; Fenghua, court collection and still remaining in the Palace Museum,
referring to the Fenghua Hall, the residence of the Emperor’s Beijing, slightly smaller (22 cm) and of somewhat di erent
highest-ranking concubine; Huang Taihou Dian [‘Hall of the proportions, with a straight, cylindrical neck and more globular
Emperor’s Mother’], Donggong [‘Eastern Palace’]; and so on body, similarly swiftly incised with single and double outlines
(see Ding ci ya ji. Gugong Bowuyuan zhencang ji chutu Dingyao and combed details with a sketchy design, but depicting a pair
ciqi huicui/Selection of Ding Ware. The Palace Museum’s of dragons. The Palace Museum bottle has been illustrated
Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Palace Museum, over and over, since it seems to have no pair, not even among
Beijing, 2012, passim; Hu Yunfa and Jin Zhiwei in Zhongguo the material excavated from the Ding kiln sites; see, for
gudai baici guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji/Symposium on example, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Ancient Chinese White Porcelain, Proceedings, Shanghai, 2005, Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1996,
pp. 285-300 and pls 152-232; and Kobayashi Hitoshi in Ding vol. 1, pl. 35; Ding ci ya ji, op.cit., pl. 36; or Chūgoku tōji zenshū
Ware. The World of White Elegance: Recent Archaeological [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], vol. 9, Kyoto, 1981,
pl. 71.
48 SOTHEBY’S 㬴ჹ℁
