Lot 608. A pair of 'Yaozhou' celadon-glazed dishes, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

each with shallow lobed sides rising from a short foot, freely carved to the interior with a central medallion enclosing a duck swimming amid stylized waves, framed by a band of combed waves, the exterior with abstract floral sprays, all beneath a lustrous olive-green glaze (2). Diameter 6 1/2  in., 16.4 cm

Note: See a closely related dish illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, pl. 414, together with a bowl of the same design, pl. 413. Compare also three Yaozhou bowls with the similar design, one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 105, and two illustrated in Jan Wirgin, 'Sung Ceramic Designs', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 42, Stockholm, 1970, pls 8c and 8f.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM