The carved design is an example of a little explored direction that used a vertical form surface for carving upon. 

Tadpoles living in the water make ripples on the surface.  Duckweed, lily pad and flower live at the water's surface.  A dragonfly patrols in the air above.  The stems and parts of the lily plant are shown as well, submerged in the water with the tadpoles.

This piece has a small, stable, fracture on the rim of the lower piece. The white clay shows the fracture on the bowl, where the lid sits, which is masked when the lid is in place. Inside of the bowl, the glaze shows fracture lines radiating from the small outer fracture. It is my belief that this one, like all fired-together lid/bowls, became stuck to itself a little bit in the firing. I may have used a knife blade and a tapper to gently add pressure to separate the parts. This technique usually releases the parts with no harm. A little too strong of a tap might have caused the damage to this piece. The carving on Tadpole Pond was a successful design and was too time consuming to carve for me to simply toss it out, so I kept it.