A pair of Chinese porcelain ducks,
19th century, each naturalistically modelled with their legs tucked underneath their plump bodies, heads on one side and with open beaks,
18cm long (2)

There has been a long tradition of creating pottery figurines, in the shape of animals in China, starting with tomb wares to symbolise offerings for the tomb owner in the afterlife. A pair of duck-shaped boxes were discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng from Easter Zhou dynasty (770-256 BC) and later, similar examples were discovered in lacquer, wood, bronze and porcelain. Their realistic quality reached its peak during the Qianlong period, when Tang Ying, the Superintendent of the Imperial porcelain works in Jingdezhen, presented three pairs, of porcelain ducks to the Qianlong emperor in 1741, which are housed in the Palace Museum collection in Beijing.

清十九世纪 白釉雕瓷宝鸭 一对