LATE MING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1610-1630

The motif of ducks in a lotus pond was a popular central theme on late Ming dynasty kraak wares. The subject also appears on earlier Yuan and Ming dynasty dishes, including a Yuan example from the Lenora and Walter F. Brown Collection, illustrated by Julia B. Curtis in “Tales told in Porcelain: Jingdezhen Blue-and-White Wares at the San Antonio Museum of Art,” Orientations, April 2005, p. 44, fig. 1, where the author notes, “Because mandarin ducks mate for life, in China they represent a wish for marital happiness.”