Footnotes

北宋 定窯醬釉葵瓣口盤

Provenance:
Eskenazi Ltd., London
Emmanuel Christofides (1928-2020), Athens and London, acquired from the above on 23 November 1998

Published and Illustrated:
D.Priestley and M.Flacks, A Life in the Company of Song Ceramics, London, 2017, pp.98-99, no.43

來源：
倫敦古董商埃斯卡納齊
Emmanuel Christofides (1928-2020)，雅典和倫敦，於1998年11月23日從上處獲得

著錄：
D.Priestley和M.Flacks，《A Life in the Company of Song Ceramics》，倫敦，2017年，第98-99頁，編號43

The present lot exemplifies a rare and highly prized variation of Dingyao ware, distinguished by its deep brown glaze. This glaze, like that found on a similar dark-brown-glazed Dingyao foliate rim dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p.96, no.87, is a high-fired glaze where iron serves as the primary colouring agent, with ferric and ferrous oxides exceeding 5% in total content. While most Dingyao ceramics are celebrated for their ivory-white glaze, a small number were produced in striking alternative colours, including black, brown, and green.

The Ming dynasty connoisseur Cao Zhao (曹昭), in his seminal text Important Discussions about Assessing Antiques (Gegu yaolun 格古要論), observed that:

有紫定色紫，有黑定色黑如漆，土具白，其價高于白定

Ding ware comes in a purple variation, known as Zi Ding, and a black variation, known as Hei Ding, which is as dark as lacquer. Both have white clay, and their value surpasses that of white Ding ware.

Similarly, the scholar Rose Kerr notes that 'The very best dark-glazed type has a glossy, deep-black glaze that resembles lacquer, while another valued style is known as purple Ding because of its aubergine-brown glaze,' as exemplified in the present piece. See R.Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, p.47.

See a related rare brown-splashed black-glazed Ding bowl of mallow shape, Northern Song dynasty, formerly in the collection of Mr and Mrs Alfred Clark, exhibited in Arts de la Chine Ancienne, Musée de l'Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1937, no.665 (together with Lot 16 in this sale), which was later sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 October 2017, lot 4.