The rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot to a broad everted flaring rim, richly decorated in bright shades of underglaze blue and painted to the interior with a very fine medallion enclosing a pair of Mandarin ducks swimming peacefully among blossoming lotus plants and broad floating leaves. Rising elegantly from the water is a rock, around which the lotus stems gracefully unfold. Stylised clouds animate the background, enhancing the sense of movement and creating an idealised aquatic landscape. The central scene is enclosed by radiating lappets with birds, fruits and floral groupings, including pomegranates and chrysanthemum below the bracket-lobed rim. The reverse is decorated with stylized lappets.
