Lot 3224. A rare small moulded ‘Mandarin Ducks’ Ding dish, Jin dynasty (1115-1234). The larger, 4 5/8 in. (11.8 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 700,000. Price realised HKD 1,000,000. © Christie’s Image Ltd 2014. 

The shallow dish is delicately moulded on the interior with a pair of mandarin ducks, one standing on an embankment and the other is swimming amidst lotus and other aquatic plants. The cavetto is designed with a band of dense foliate scroll below a broad mouth rim. All covered in an even glaze of ivory tone pooling to pale olive in the recesses, Japanese wood box.

Property from The Yiqingge Collection.

Literature: Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. one, Mayuyama & Co., Tokyo, 1976, no. 389

Christie’s. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 26 November 2014