J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
Chinese Porcelain and Silver in the Song Dynasty
March 18 - April 8, 2002
16.
A DINGYAO WHITE PORCELAIN DISH
WITH CARVED LOTUS DECORATION
Song Dynasty, A.D. 12th Century
with steep flaring sides and broad, slightly concave center, freely carved on the interior with one large lotus blossom and two smaller partially open lotus blossoms rising on long stems sprouting curly leaves drawn across the center of the dish and curving around the sides, with a lily pad with serrated edges and another long stem completing the design, all enclosed by a single line border below the notched rim, the underside angled sharply toward the base and the flaring sides divided into six lobes by faintly incised lines extending down from the notches at the rim, the rounded base raised on a narrow ring foot, the glaze of pale ivory tint continuing unevenly over the base and gathering in characteristic “tear marks” on the underside, the mouth rim with unglazed edge revealing the fine white porcelain.
Diameter 7 3⁄4 inches (19.8 cm)
A Dingyao dish of this same form carved with a very similar pattern from the Imperial Collection is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Ting Ware and Ting-type Ware, Taipei, 1973, no. 41. Another Dingyao dish of this form carved with a very similar pattern, formerly in the collections of Alfred Schoenlicht and Mrs. Walter Sedgwick, London, was exhibited at the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln, 1988 and illustrated by Wiesner in the catalogue entitled Chinesische Keramik: Meisterwerke aus Privatsammlung, Koln, 1988, p. 53, no. 25, from the Collection of Dr. Ernst Grüterich, and another is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated in the catalogue of The Charles B. Hoyt Collection, Vol. II, Boston, 1972, no. 26. Compare also the Dingyao dish of this form, more loosely carved with a single lotus bloom and leafy stems, exhibited at the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts and illustrated in the catalogue entitled White Porcelain of Ding yao, Tokyo, 1983, p. 70, no. 116.
Another Dingyao dish of the same profile but with a plain rim, carved with a very similar pattern, in the Percival David Foundation is illustrated by Hin-Cheung Lovell in the Catalogue of Ting Yao and Related White Wares, London, 1964, no. 184, with an inscription under the glaze on the base which may be translated as “made by the Shu family of Yungho in the Shaoxing period” (A.D. 1131-1162).
Compare also the Dingyao bowl with notched rim, carved with a very similar lotus design, from the collection of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated by Jan Wirgin in Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm 1970, pl. 60.
16.
A DINGYAO WHITE PORCELAIN DISH
WITH CARVED LOTUS DECORATION
Song Dynasty, A.D. 12th Century
Diameter 7 3⁄4 inches (19.8 cm)