Xing porcelain foliate dish

A white porcelain dish, the gently rounded sides supported on a square-cut, low ring foot. The edge of the rim is cut with a knife into a quatrefoil rim that incorporates both rounded and sharply pointed sections.  The dish is completely unadorned and covered in a thin white glaze that exposes the white body on the base only.  A number of characteristic ‘tear-drop’ markings in the glaze are visible on the outside of the dish.

•  Xing ware is the predecessor of Ding ware. This striking, pure white stoneware dish was made at the highly regarded Xing kiln, located in Neiqiu, in the northern province of Hebei, which produced ware that “..seems to have been favoured for wine”.1  According to Kerr: ‘The great fame of Xing ware rests in its designation as the earliest true porcelain made in China, and hence in the world.  […] Xing wares are the whitest of early northern porcelains, both as regards body and glaze.’ 2  A similar example, acquired in Syria, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.3  Another example, dated to the Tang dynasty, is in the Kempe collection.4  A stoneware dish of identical form, classified as ding ware, is in the collection of Simon Kwan.5  

1. Watson, W. Tang and Liao Ceramics, Thames and Hudson, 1984, page 36
2. Kerr, R. Song Dynasty Ceramics, Victoria and Albert Museum Far Eastern Series, London 2004, p. 40
3. Kerr, R. op. cit.  nos. 33 + 33a, p. 42
4. Gyllensvärd, B. Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm 1964 no. 341, p.113
5. Ho, K.C. Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994, no. 8, pp. 52-3