Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

The dish has everted sides with a distinct angle, shaped by pressing the piece over a mould after throwing, and a shallow foot with recessed base. The inside was decorated before moulding with two ducks swimming on waves between two lotus plants, each with a flower and a leaf, arranged in a radiating fashion around a small trefoil waterplant in the centre, all quickly incised with single and double outlines and combed details. The rim is outlined by a thin line, the outside is plain. The near-white stoneware is covered with a transparent cream-coloured glaze of fine texture, which also covers the foot, where some fingernail markings show how the piece was held during glazing. The glaze forms characteristic darker yellowish ‘tears’ on the outside. The piece was fired standing on the unglazed rim, which was subsequently bound in copper to hide its raw edge.