Lotus: Ding Ware Carved Lotus Cup Stand
Lotus: Ding Ware Carved Lotus Cup Stand
Lotus
Ding Ware Carved Lotus Cup Stand
White as ivory, warm as skin. Ding ware was the great white porcelain of the Song dynasty — a glaze so fine it seems to glow from within. This cup stand is carved with lotus petals that rise around the central well, each line cut by hand with a bamboo blade before firing. The glaze pools in the grooves, turning them a soft gray; the ridges stay bright. It is a throne for a single tea bowl.
The Story
The White Kiln
Of the five great Song kilns, Ding was the only one devoted to white. While Ru pursued blue, Jun chased purple, and Ge celebrated cracks, Ding potters in Quyang spent centuries perfecting a single color: a warm, ivory white that the court called "ding white." They carved it, molded it, and printed it with flowers — but the color never changed.
The lotus cup stand is a classic Ding form. A raised ring holds the bowl; a wide, flared base keeps it steady; and between them, lotus petals curve upward like a flower opening. The carving is done when the clay is leather-hard — each stroke is committed, each line permanent. In the kiln, the glaze runs thin over the ridges and thick in the valleys, and the pattern emerges not as paint but as shadow. This is decoration without color: pure form, pure light.
Detail
Close Examination
In Context
The Art of Use
Specification
Craft & Material
Objects made to be held, used, and passed on.
Quiet luxury, built to last.