Page 222 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

ANOTHER PROPERTY
1727
A RARE DING BOX AND COVER WITH TRACES OF GILT DECORATION
SONG DYNASTY (AD 960-1279)
The box has tapering sides, a fat base and a slightly domed cover, covered overall, except for the rims, with
a glaze of ivory tone. The top of the cover retains faint traces of gilt decoration of a bird fying amidst fower
stems and leaves.
3¡ in. (8.6 cm.) diam.

$40,000-60,000

It is unusual to fnd gilt decoration, or even traces of such decoration, on Ding wares. Three bowls with
gilt decoration are illustrated by Gakuji Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 12, Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977,
pp. 24-27: pls. 15-16, a white Ding bowl, where some of the gilt decoration is still visible; pls. 17-18, a
black-glazed Ding bowl with faint remains of foliate decoration; and pls. 19-21, a russet-glazed ding
bowl, with still visible peony decoration in both gold and silver. Another example is a gilt-decorated dish
in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Ding Ware: The Palace Museum’s Collection
and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, pp. 186-87, no. 76. As with the present box, the decoration
on the Palace dish is now indecipherable. The author notes that only approximately ten gilt-decorated
Ding ceramics are in existence and it is very rare for them to still have traces of the gilding. A Ding
dish bearing traces of the characters shou shan fu hai (mountains of longevity and oceans of fortune) in
gilding on the interior was sold at Christie’s New York, 13 September 2018, lot 1311. Although the gilding
itself is no longer visible on the present box, the hazy imprint of it still remains, allowing some of the
decoration to still be deciphered.
宋 定窯白釉描金花鳥紋圓蓋盒

(line drawing of the decoration of the cover)

218