Bowl

This bowl is a superb example of the luscious white glaze produced at the Ding-ware kilns in northern China. These highly refined ceramics were among those presented to the Northern Song court and prized by elite collectors. Ding potters pioneered the technique of firing a vessel upside down on its rim, thereby spreading the weight of these delicate bowls in order to prevent warping and distortion. A copper or silver band was then fitted to the mouth of the bowl that had been left unglazed during the firing. It is one of a very small number of large-scale Dingware bowls still surviving.