the finely potted body with gently rounded conical sides rising from a short foot to an everted metal-bound rim, the interior freely carved with a single lotus flower with curling leaves, applied overall with an even ivory-colored glaze pooling in characteristic tear-drops on the plain exterior

Collection of Alfred Schoenlicht (d. 1955), New York and The Hague.
Sotheby’s London, 13th December 1955, lot 58.
Collection of Irwin W.J Bullock, Cambridge.
Sotheby's London, 14th December 1971, lot 194.
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 1972.
Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, acquired circa 1972.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, prior to World War II.

Eskenazi Ltd., Inaugural Exhibition – Early Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1^st March 1972, no. 48.
Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Volume One, Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1976, p. 128, no. 374.
Roy Davids & Dominic Jellinek, Provenance: Collectors, Dealers and Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America. Great Haseley, 2011, p. 98 (cited as a highlight of the Bullock Collection).

There is a very fine hairline crack to the rim under the metal band approx. 5/8 in. (1.5 cm) long, visible on the exterior and a 'Y'-shaped crack on the interior which is not visible to naked eye. There is also a tiny chip visible on the interior, and one on the exterior under the metal band. The metal band is a replacement.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This elegant bowl is representative of a classic Ding design of the Northern Song dynasty and is notable for its large size. Celebrated for thin potting, a fine near-white body and an ivory-colored glaze which tends to run down in slightly darker 'tears', Ding wares were ranked among the 'five great wares' of the Song, a term coined by the collectors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Ding designs generally display a high level of naturalness and fluidity and the maker of this bowl has skillfully rendered the lotus in spontaneous flowing lines to successfully capture the spirit and grace of the flower. Symbolic of purity and integrity because it rises clean out of muddy water, the lotus was a popular motif throughout the Song dynasty and frequently featured on white-glazed Ding ware.

Bowls of this type, but of slightly smaller size, include one from the Qing Court collection, and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 52; one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Special Exhibition of Ting White Ware White Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1987, cat. no. 36; another from the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, included in the exhibition White Porcelain of Ding Yao, Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 1983, cat. no. 117; a bowl from the Eumorfopoulos collection, illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection, vol. 3, London, 1926, pl. XXIX; and a fifth example from the collection of Mrs Alfred Clark, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Arts of the Sung Dynasty, London, 1960, cat. no. 19, and sold in our London rooms, 25th March 1975, lot 35.

Bowls of this type but with lobed rims are also known; for example see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Ding Ware. The Palace Museum's Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, pl. 64; and a slightly larger bowl sold in our London rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 88.

The kiln site identified with Ding ware is located at Quyang in Ding county, Hebei province. This was an area formerly known as Dingzhou. Ding production consisted mostly of small utilitarian wares such as dishes and bowls, generally left in their natural form and undecorated in the 10th and early 11th centuries. From the late 11th century and early 12th century an increasing number were carved or incised and through the thirteenth century they were mold-impressed and densely patterned. Rose Kerr in her work on the collection of Song ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, states that the 'fact that Ding ware was an official ware made one feature of its decoration especially pronounced.' This was its tendency to mimic other, more precious, materials such as gold and silver, huge quantities of which were stored in palace treasures (see Rose Kerr, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, p. 102, for further information).