A Chinese doucai 'marriage' bowl 

Qing dynasty, Jiaqing mark and period 

Delicately painted and outlined in underglaze blue and enamelled in translucent green, aubergine, yellow, and finely-shaded iron red, with a border of lanca characters to the interior of the rim and a central circular medallion of a pair of mandarin ducks in a lotus pond, the exterior with a border of dragons chasing pearls beneath the rim, above a continuous scene of pairs of mandarin ducks in a pond of large-headed, leafy lotuses, the base with underglaze blue six-character seal mark.

16.5cm diameter.

清嘉慶 鬥彩繪蓮池鴛鴦圖紋書梵文盌，青花篆書「大清嘉慶年製」款

The highly auspicious motif of mandarin ducks in a lotus pond appears as early as the Tang dynasty. As the word for lotus has several homophones which relate to connection and peace, the lotus flower represents a harmonious union. Ducks signify loyalty due to the belief that they mate for life with a single partner. Symbolic of marital harmony, the depiction is popular on items presented as marriage gifts.

Cf. See an almost identical bowl, sold by Roseberys, Tuesday 28 July 2020, lot 86. The present bowl appears to be a direct copy of Chenghua examples. It is rare to see this kind of bowl with a Jiaqing mark. For an example of a Daoguang-period bowl, see Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Important Chinese Art, 5th April 2017, lot 3704. Similar examples can also be found at the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, Special Exhibition of Cheng-hua Porcelain, 1976, no. 87, together with enamelled Qianlong and Jiaqing bowls of the same pattern, nos. 84 and 86, and an enamelled bowl with a Chenghua mark, no. 85. An earlier Jiajing-period doucai dish with a similar pattern can be found in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and is illustrated in Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, Hong Kong, 1966, pl.18.