Glazes of Ding porcelain in the Tang Dynasty are thin and pure white. As glaze and body were closely combined, there were no tear stains on the porcelain at that time. Glazes of Ding porcelain in the Northern Song Dynasty are thick and yellowish with many comparatively large bubbles, so the glaze layer was able to form the flowing strip when fired. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Ding kiln fired the porcelain in a right-side-up way so that the tear direction was from top to bottom. Since the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the craft of firing the porcelain in an upside-down way was invented in Ding kiln, with the tear flowing from bottom to top. In some special cases, the direction of the tears is horizontal, and the reasons are unidentified.

2. Bamboo filament brush pattern

On the outer wall of the bowls and plates of Ding kiln, fine and closely woven scratching can often be seen, commonly known as the "bamboo filament brush pattern". The scratching was made from rotating the body after the initial shaping period. There is no denying that the brush pattern can also be found in the outer wall of porcelains from other times and other kilns, whose scratching is not as fine and close as that of Ding porcelain. Therefore, the bamboo filament brush pattern is one of the characteristics for identifying Ding porcelain.

Peony-and-lotus entwined stamping plate of Ding kiln,  Height 5.4cm, caliber 30.4 cm, foot diameter 13.6

3. Bottom foot

The main types of bottom foot of Ding porcelain are flat foot and ring foot. The ring foot is distinguished from ring foots of other kilns caused by the upside-down-firing method used after the middle Northern Song Dynasty. With the upside-down-firing method, the ring foot could be glazed, and the exposed part could be moved up to the body of the porcelain. However, the glazed bottom foot is not as perfect in appearance, for the lower surface that touches the ground is not very smooth. The glaze is not even and it feels rough to touch. This strange phenomenon, however, can help identify the Ding ware.

4. Deformation

Ding porcelain, especially the bowls, are somewhat deformed. It is easy to find the deformation if an intact utensil is put upside-down on the table. Replicas of Ding porcelain may resemble the real Ding porcelain in terms of its tear stains and bamboo brush, but do not possess the same deformation because it is caused not by artificial efforts, but by time and degree of heat, the location of the kiln and climate and other natural factors. The deformation phenomenon is now difficult to imitate and has not yet caught the attention of imitators, so it is an important point of identification.

White glazed flower-engraved straight-neck plate of Ding kiln. Height 22cm, caliber 5.5 cm, foot diameter 6.4 cm