Exhibited: Kunst Indusri Museet, Copenhagen, 1950, cat. no. 314.

Literature: 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, 1953, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 72, fig. 64.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 415.

Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 66a, fig, 8f.

Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics,London, 1982, pl. 55.

The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 112.

Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 617.

Note: This classic Song design, emblematic of fidelity and a happy marriage, is associated with the 'Ding' kilns in Hebei province during the Northern Song period and the motif appears on 'Ding' bowls and dishes of various forms. This particular dish follows a silver prototype, and is one of the most successful shapes with this distinctive motif.

A closely related dish in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in The Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 77; another, with the rim bound in copper, from the Percival David Foundation, London, was included in the exhibition A Hundred Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, Tokyo, 1980, col. pl. 6; a third example in the Freer Gallery of Art, also with a metal rim, is published in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 58; and a fourth from the collection of Lord Cunliffe is illustrated by Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, cat. no. 357. See also a related dish carved with a variation of the duck motif sold at Christie's London, 10 December 1984, lot. 620.

Bowl with incised waterfowl and pond design, Northern Song to Jin dynasties, 12th -13th centuries © National Palace Museum

Bowl with mandarin ducks, Northern Song dynasty, about AD 1086–1127, Ding ware, Quyang county, Hebei province. Stoneware with incised decoration, transparent glaze and copper rim mount. Height: 66 millimetres; Diameter: 260 millimetres. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF 162 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

Ding ware dish with incised decoration of ducks, Northern Song dynasty, 11th-early 12th century. Porcelain with ivory-toned transparent glaze; metal rim. H x W: 4.8 x 21 cm (1 7/8 x 8 1/4 in), Freer Gallery of Art, F1963.16 © 2017 Smithsonian Institution

The design of two ducks among water plants is well-known from 'Ding' ware. Because ducks are believed to mate for life and to languish and die if separated, they symbolise conjugal fidelity in traditional China and often adorned marriage gifts.

Sotheby's. London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008