SONG DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY

Ducks were the most usual birds to be modeled on the top of censer covers, but the majority of these are seated, swimming or at least have their bodies held horizontally. This is a very rare example of a duck standing with wings raised, as if about to take flight. One of the very few other examples of a standing duck with outstretched wings was excavated in 1972 from a tomb in the Jingdezhen area. This bird came from a tomb dated to the equivalent of AD 1065, and is illustrated in Dated Qingbai Wares of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1998, p. 47, no. 17. Although it is less finely modeled than the Falk example, the excavated piece also has the breast feathers indicated in horizontal lines. The same horizontal approach to the breast feathers appears on a qingbai-glazed duck that adorns the cover of a lotus censer in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1989, p. 85, no. 72. The placement of ducks on top of censer covers is also seen in celadon wares. A Yaozhou celadon example is in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, the World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 79, while recently excavated fragments suggest that such duck censers were also made in Ru ware. This supposition is supported by the fact that such pieces exist in Koryo celadon from early 12th century Korea, see Oriental Ceramics, the World's Great Collections, vol. 2, National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Tokyo, 1982, no. 55, and there is a close relationship between Ru wares and Koryo celadons. It is interesting to see that this form was transferred to the kilns at Jingdezhen.