Cleveland Museum of Art

Ding Ware Bowl of the Xing Type with Bi-Disc Foot

Date

907–60

Medium

White stoneware with ivory-white glaze

Culture

China, Henan province, Gongxian kilns, Five dynasties (907–60)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

An ivory-colored glaze covers this shallow bowl with a solid flat foot ring, revealing an almost pure white body. Bowls of this type and shape were used for drinking tea and were traded as far as Samarra (modern Iraq). Red tea consumed during the Tang dynasty (618–906) was believed to look best in pale green or white-glazed bowls. When white whisked powdered tea was introduced a century later during the Song dynasty (960–1279), tastes and aesthetics for tea ceramics changed and dark-glazed teabowls were preferred. The bowl’s foot ring is shaped like a Neolithic bi (璧), a flat jade disc with a central circular hole, which had some ritual function.

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