59 - A rare Chinese Ding moulded 'cranes and tortoise' dish

A rare Chinese Ding moulded 'cranes and tortoise' dish Jin dynasty, 12th century Decorated with two cranes and a tortoise amidst foliage, in front of bamboo issuing from an ornamental rock, inside a chrysanthemum petal moulded well and everted rim decorated with a band of overlapping leaves, 20.5cm diameter. Provenance: Sotheby's Parke Bernet Hong Kong November '83, lot 34 (label) Private collection assembled in Singapore 1980s-90s and thence by descent to the present owner. Note: This dish is one of a very small group of such vessels with a fluted interior and a lobed rim with raised edge. Very few of these dishes are known outside imperial collections. One sold at Christie's New York, 24th March 2004, another is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object number 2010.58. Neither of these dishes have moulded detail to the fluted 'petals', as can be seen on the present dish. 金 定窯白釉模「龜鶴遐壽」紋花口盤 來源：香港蘇富比（Sotheby's Parke Bernet），1983年11月，拍品編號34（附標籤）。 新加坡私人收藏，於1980至1990年代期間建立，其後由家族傳承至現藏家。 Cf. A related dish of comparable size, depicting two cranes and a tortoise, sold at Christie’s on 24 March 2004 and now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Two further related Ding ware dishes, excavated at Quyangxian in Hebei province in 1974 and now preserved by the Quyangxian Cultural Relics Bureau, are illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, vol. 9, Dingyao (Shanghai, 1981), nos. 107 and 115. The latter depicts a crane and bamboo beside an ornamental rock, in a composition comparable to the present dish. 參閱：佳士得於2004年3月24日售出一件相關作品，現藏於大都會藝術博物館。該件作品尺寸與本拍品相近，飾有雙鶴及龜紋，另配有兩個花盆。另有兩件相關定窯盤，於1974年出土於河北省曲陽縣，現藏於曲陽縣文物管理部門。見《中國陶瓷全集》第9卷《定窯》，上海，1981年，圖版107及115。其中圖版115所示盤飾仙鶴、竹枝及湖石，構圖與本拍品相近。 Since antiquity, the tortoise and the crane have been revered in Chinese culture as auspicious emblems of longevity. The tortoise symbolises enduring life and spiritual auspiciousness, while the crane, with its elegant and ethereal bearing, is closely associated with the realms of immortals and the pursuit of eternal life. When depicted together, they evoke the auspicious motif of guihe yashou (龜鶴遐壽), expressing wishes for long life, enduring blessings and lasting prosperity. This felicitous imagery appears widely in traditional Chinese painting, porcelain, jade carving and embroidery, and is particularly favoured in works intended to convey birthday felicitations. Through the harmonious pairing of these auspicious creatures, the motif embodies the enduring wish for longevity, well-being and blessings that continue across generations. 龜與仙鶴自古以來皆為中國傳統文化中寓意長壽與祥瑞的靈物。龜象徵延年益壽、靈瑞長存，仙鶴則因其清雅脫俗的形象，常與仙境及長生之意相聯繫。兩者相偕而現，寓意「龜鶴遐壽」，象徵福壽綿長、延年永年，亦寄託了人們對健康長壽、吉祥安泰與福澤綿延的美好祝願。此一吉祥意象廣見於中國傳統繪畫、瓷器、玉雕及刺繡等藝術形式之中，尤常用於祝壽題材，以祥瑞之象傳達對長久福祉與綿延壽考的殷切期盼。