A Rare Blue and White Double-Duck Waterdropper

15TH/16TH CENTURY

Details

A Rare Blue and White Double-Duck Waterdropper
15th/16th century
The hollow vessel modeled as side-by-side ducks, their heads turned in the same direction and one beak pierced at the sides, well painted in rich underglaze-blue wash with feathers and facial features, the glaze ending in a line above the flat base
5in. (12.7cm.) long

Lot Essay

Paired mandarin ducks were a popular symbol of conjugal fidelity and marital happiness.

A very similar vessel is illustrated by R.L. d'Argencé in Chinese Ceramics in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1967, pl. L(D). Another is illustrated by C.J.A. Jörg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Ming and Qing Dynasties, 1997, p. 35, no. 9.

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