A fine Chinese porcelain doucai bowl, Jiaqing mark and of the period, delicately detailed with a continuous scene of mandarin ducks swimming amidst large lotus blooms, under an underglaze blue band of sinuous five-clawed dragons chasing 'flaming pearls', painted in the interior with a central medallion of a pair of ducks in a lotus pond, with a band of lança characters at the rim, the base inscribed with a seal mark, 16.5cm diameterNote: Depictions of ducks can be found on works dating back to the Han dynasty, and the motif of ducks in a lotus pond as early as the Tang dynasty. With the development of the doucai technique during the Xuande period, the popularity of the motif continued through the Ming and Qing dynasties.The Mandarin duck 鸳鸯 (‘yuān yang’) is named after the officials of the Imperial court, both identified by their colourful plumage. Ducks are symbolic of loyalty due to the commonly-held belief that ducks mate for life with a single partner, and do not find another when that partner dies. The lotus flower is one of the most popular motifs in Chinese art - blossoming from the murky mud of the marshes into an untainted white flower, the lotus symbolises purity. The word for lotus 莲 (‘lian’) has several homophones, such as 恋 (‘liàn’), which means to love and long for, and also 联 (‘lián’), meaning unite, join. The motif of ducks in a lotus pond are therefore very popular on items given as marriage gifts, due to the auspicious meaning of harmonious union. Cf. The present bowl appears to be a direct copy of Chenghua examples. See Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, Vol I, Nanking, 1935, P.128, no.167 for an underglaze blue decorated bowl with the same design. For a comparable 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 Ch’eng-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.Please refer to department for condition report