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Lot Essay
The bowl is delicately moulded to the interior with mandarin ducks swimming in a pond amidst lotus and weeds, encircling a pair of fish at the centre. The bowl is covered overall in a warm ivory glaze.
‘Mandarin ducks in a lotus pond’ is a prevalent motif on ceramics, textiles and paintings since the Northern Song dynasty. One such example is the ink painting Pair of Mandarin Ducks in a Lotus Pond, attributed to Huichong, now preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Compare to a Ding bowl moulded with identical decoration, preserved in the Nanjing Museum and illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, Vol. 9, Dingyao, no.88. Another example moulded with mandarin ducks was formerly in the collection of E. T. Chow, later passing to T. Y. Chow, and sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 21 March 2023, lot 16. Compare also to a Jin dynasty ‘mandarin ducks in lotus pond’ dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Ding Ware: the Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, no. 119.
‘Mandarin ducks in a lotus pond’ is a prevalent motif on ceramics, textiles and paintings since the Northern Song dynasty. One such example is the ink painting Pair of Mandarin Ducks in a Lotus Pond, attributed to Huichong, now preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Compare to a Ding bowl moulded with identical decoration, preserved in the Nanjing Museum and illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, Vol. 9, Dingyao, no.88. Another example moulded with mandarin ducks was formerly in the collection of E. T. Chow, later passing to T. Y. Chow, and sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 21 March 2023, lot 16. Compare also to a Jin dynasty ‘mandarin ducks in lotus pond’ dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Ding Ware: the Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, no. 119.