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A pale green jade 'double-fish' marriage bowl 18th century image 1
A pale green jade 'double-fish' marriage bowl 18th century image 2
Lot 49

A pale green jade 'double-fish' marriage bowl
18th century

11 November 2010, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £36,000 inc. premium

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A pale green jade 'double-fish' marriage bowl

18th century
With tall flaring sides carved on either side with taotie-mask handles suspending loose rings, the interior carved in high relief with double fish in mirror image, their scales and fins finely incised, all raised on five supports, the stone of pale green tone with opaque white and minor brown inclusions, box.
19.7cm (7¾in) wide (2).

Footnotes

Provenance: a European private collection.

One of the bajixiang, the Eight Buddhist Emblems, the twin-fish motif symbolises freedom from restraint as well as the wish for marital bliss, prosperity and an abundance of good luck. Because fish are reputed to swim in pairs and are known for their reproductive power, the double fish stand for the joys of union and numerous offspring.

The design of double fish within the interior of the bowl may have have been inspired by Eastern Zhou Dynasty ritual pan vessels with fish design, and more closely with the double-fish design found on bowls and dishes dated to the Song Dynasty. Compare a related jade 'double-fish' bowl imitating an archaic bronze pan vessel from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch'ing Court, Taipei, 1986, pp.68-69.

Additional information

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