A rare Dingyao tripod waterpot with an inscribed 'guan' mark Tang - Five Dynasties | 唐至五代 定窰白釉蓮瓣紋三足水盂 《官》款

Collection of Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967).

Sotheby's London, 14th May 2008, lot 226.

卡爾肯普博士（1884-1967年）收藏

倫敦蘇富比2008年5月14日，編號226

Gustaf Lindberg, 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 16, fig. 13.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 389.

Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 93.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures. A Selection from the Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including the Carl Kempe Collection, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 591.

Gustaf Lindberg，〈Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao〉，《 The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities》，第25期，斯德哥爾摩，1953年，圖版16，圖13

Bo Gyllensvärd，《Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection》，斯德哥爾摩，1964年，圖版389

《東洋陶瓷大觀》，卷8：斯德哥爾摩東亞博物館，東京，1982 年，圖版93

《博物館珍藏的精品：中國陶器及其它》，烏爾里瑟港，2002年，圖版591

Delicately potted with subtle lobes resembling a lotus bud and enveloped in a warm ivory-white glaze, the present vessel epitomises the aesthetic ideal at the dawn of white-ware production. The feet, each modelled in the form of an animal’s paw, add to the charm of the vessel.

Although both Xing and Ding kilns in Hebei appear to have produced jarlets of similar shape, the creamy-white tone of the glaze and delicate lotus design of this vessel indicate a likely attribution to the latter site. A Dingyao waterpot of comparable form, with a more bluish glaze stop short above the feet but otherwise undecorated, was excavated at Dingzhou city, Hebei, and included in Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Dingyao / Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites: Ding Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 274, fig. 11 bottom. Compare a related example attributed to the Xing kilns, also more bluish and plain, excavated in Xi’an, Shaanxi province and published in Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Xingyao / Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites. Xing Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 375 top. 

This waterpot is freely incised to its base with a guan (official) character – an indication of exceptional quality suitable for imperial use. Although white-glazed wares inscribed with such marks can be found from the Tang dynasty through the Song period, they are altogether scarce. Except for a very small number of examples from the Xing kilns, the majority of these marked wares were produced at Dingzhou (Lü Chenglong, ed., Dingyaoyaji gugongbowuyuan zhencang ji chutu dingyao ciqi huicui / Selection of Ding Ware. The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, pp. 13 and 18). From the mid-Tang dynasty through the Five Dynasties period, while kilns supplying ceramics to the court were neither strictly controlled nor solely restricted to imperial commissions, court officials were sent to supervise production and taxation at the Ding kilns (The Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou: White Ding Wares from the Collection of the National Palace Museum Special Exhibition, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, p. 19). See a Five dynasties Dingyao covered jarlet with similar petal lobes and inscribed with a guan character, but resting on a short footring, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Ceramics Gallery of the Palace Museum, vol. 1: The Neolithic Period to Five Dynasties, Beijing, 2021, cat. no. 186, together with a Tang dynasty unmarked waterpot supported on four animal-feet, cat. no. 142.