A RARE SMALL DINGYAO ‘MELON’ EWER, NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

China, 10^th-11^th century. The ewer is potted with a lobed body rising from a straight foot to a deeply inverted mouth, surmounted by a handle reminiscent of a twisted rope terminating in three separate straps, each with a floral appliqué attached to the other side of the rim, and with a short spout set below. Covered overall with a fine and thinly applied glaze of grayish-tinged white color pooling attractively in the recesses, save for the unglazed foot rim.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and firing irregularities including glaze lines forming a network of craquelure in some areas, minor glaze degradation to the handle, light surface scratches, the unglazed foot rim with small nicks and few minuscule chips.

Weight: 506 g
Dimensions: Height 19.4 cm

This ewer was probably used to pour wine, which was customarily served warm. Its form carries auspicious symbolism, as the imagery of melons forms the rebus guadie mianmian (numerous melons borne on never-ending vines), a phrase which conveys the wish for abundant offspring. As early as the Tang dynasty, vessels were made in melon forms encapsulating such auspicious wishes. It is likely that the current ewer, too, served as a decorative piece not intended to be merely functional but rather used to convey fortuitous wishes, as gifts, or in ceremonies and rituals.

A small number of Ding melon-form ewers have been excavated, mostly in the territory of the Liao state, spanning across the mid-Northern Song to mid-to-late Jin dynasties. See for example a Ding ewer of melon form (fig. 1) excavated from no. 6 tomb located at Qahar Right Front Banner Haoqian Unit in Inner Mongolia. Because most of these lobed ewers were unearthed in the northeastern part of China, and some of them were indeed fired within Liao territory, for example at Longquanwu in Beijing, many scholars in the past identified ewers like the present lot as ‘Liao wares’. However, this is inaccurate. Most of these lobed ewers, whether they are coarse or fine, were in fact fired at the Ding kilns. In 2009, the School of Archaeology and Museology at Beijing University and the Hebei Cultural Relic Research Institute conducted a joint excavation at the Ding kilns in Hebei. The Jianciling kiln site produced Ding wares of the finest quality. Sherds of similar lobed ewers were unearthed from the stratum dating to the late Northern Song period, and one can conclude finer types of Ding ewers were produced at this kiln site. Lobed ewers of lesser quality were found in the kiln sites of Yancun and Yebei, from stratum dating to the Jin dynasty (fig. 2). Thus it is likely that some of the coarser lobed ewers found in northeast China mentioned previously were fired at these kiln sites.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Ding ewer, dated to the Liao dynasty, 11^th century, 15.7 cm high, in the Art Institute of Chicago, reference number 1924.336. Compare a closely related Ding ewer, dated to the Northern Song dynasty, 11^th century, 15 cm tall, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number C.615&A-1918.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 23 March 2011, lot 504
Price: USD 122,500 or approx. EUR 150,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare small 'ding' ewer, Liao / Song dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, glaze, and modeling with similar handle. Note the size (15.9 cm).