SONG DYNASTY (AD 960-1279)

It is unusual to find gilt decoration, or even traces of such decoration, on Ding wares. Three bowls with gilt decoration are illustrated by Gakuji Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 12, Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, pp. 24-27: pls. 15-16, a white Ding bowl, where some of the gilt decoration is still visible; pls. 17-18, a black-glazed Ding bowl with faint remains of foliate decoration; and pls. 19-21, a russet-glazed ding bowl, with still visible peony decoration in both gold and silver. Another example is a gilt-decorated dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Ding Ware: The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, pp. 186-87, no. 76. As with the present box, the decoration on the Palace dish is now indecipherable. The author notes that only approximately ten gilt-decorated Ding ceramics are in existence and it is very rare for them to still have traces of the gilding. A Ding dish bearing traces of the characters shou shan fu hai (mountains of longevity and oceans of fortune) in gilding on the interior was sold at Christie’s New York, 13 September 2018, lot 1311. Although the gilding itself is no longer visible on the present box, the hazy imprint of it still remains, allowing some of the decoration to still be deciphered.