Compare with several published dingyao dishes in major collections carved with pairs of mandarin ducks amid waterweeds and combed waves. As each is freely carved, they vary slightly in pattern, the two closest examples appear to be the dish in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, Vol. 9, fig. 58; and the dish from the collection of Sir Percival David included in the O.C.S. exhibition Sung Dynasty Wares, 1949, illustrated in T.O.C.S., Vol. 25, no. 23. Other examples include a dish illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. 1, pl. 357; two dishes illustrated in the Compendium of Song and Yuan Ceramics, pgs. 130-131; a dish illustrated by Rosemary Scott, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, pl. 21; another three in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in their special exhibition Ting Ware White Porcelain, 1987, Catalogue, nos. 44-46; one in the Victoria and Albert Museum from the Aubrey Le Blond collection, included in the exhibition, The Ceramic Art of China, T.O.C.S., Vol. 38, 1969-1971, pl. 67; and yet another dish illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Vol. 12, pl. 143.

(US$50,000-55,000)