A rare 'Ding' figure of a sleeping boy, Northern Song dynasty

Collection of Samuel H. Minkenhof (1879-1956), and thence by descent.

Chinese Ceramics. From the Prehistoric Period through Ch'ien Lung, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1952, cat. no. 189.

Figures of this type produced at the Ding kilns, particularly in such small scale, are rare. Compare a figure of a reclining woman sold in our New York rooms, 22nd February 1973, lot 108; and a reclining boy sold in these rooms, 5th July 1977, lot 145, and again at Christie’s New York, 20th November 1979, lot 170. Depictions of sleeping boys, however, are more commonly encountered on pillows. Compare, for example, a 'sleeping boy' pillow from the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3, London, 2006, pl. 1428; together with three further examples published in Ding Yao Ceramics from the Beixuan Shuzhai Collection, Hong Kong, 2013, pls. 14-16, and two related 'reclining ladies', pls. 17-18.