Footnotes

Treasury 6, no. 1304


瓷胎鐵紅九條金魚鼻煙壺
景德鎮，道光年款， 1821～1850


Nine Auspicious Goldfish

Iron-red, gold, and black enamel on colourless glaze on porcelain; with a convex lip and slightly concave foot; painted with a design of nine fan-tailed goldfish, five on one main side, four on the other, each with its eyes picked out in black and the rest detailed in gold; the foot inscribed in iron-red seal script Da Qing Daoguang nian zhi (Made during the Daoguang period of the Qing dynasty); the lip glazed, the inner neck unglazed; the interior with a very thin wash of glaze
Imperial kilns, Jingdezhen, 1821–1850
Height: 5.91 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.70/1.49 cm
Stopper: turquoise; pearl finial; gilt-silver collar
Condition: some abrasion on the lip from stopper wear, and some on the edge of the foot; natural tiny scratches and abrasions from normal use. General overall condition: extremely good

Illustration: watercolour by Peter Suart

Provenance:
Robert Hall (1987)

Published:
Hall, 1987, no. 61
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 169
Treasury 6, no. 1304

Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, March–June 1994
National Museum of Singapore, November 1994–February 1995

Commentary
Iron-red is one of the thinnest of the enamels included in the famille rose palette (although inherited from the earlier, traditional palette). It could be easily manipulated, completely controlled, and was used much like ink, with darker tones used for outline and paler washes as formal emphasis, qualities that made it an ideal colour for use either on its own or in combination with a limited palette of other colours. It was used with considerable verve throughout the nineteenth century in the production of porcelain snuff bottles. Here it is used as shaded washes to give the fish form, while the details of fins and scales are painted in gold enamel, and the eyes in black: an unusual but extremely effective decorative scheme. The use of the gold adds not only an interesting textural dimension to the painting but also a hint of realism, since the light glinting off the gold resembles light reflecting off the fish scales under water.

This is Daoguang use of the limited palette based on iron-red at its very best, with a well composed and finely executed design of considerable vitality. We are also fortunate here to find the bottle in much the same condition as it would have appeared to the emperor for whom it was made. All the gold detailing is intact, which is rare, as gold is weaker still than iron-red and the most prone to wear of the entire palette. Another unusual feature, which also indicates the artistry involved, is that the composition includes fish viewed from many different angles, including one from beneath, demonstrating an unusual level of drawing skills for a popular subject that would have functioned symbolically and decoratively just as well with far less sophisticated painting.

With such a fine bottle, it is hardly surprising to see a beautifully inscribed mark, as neat and well-drawn as any from the reign, and in the full, six-character format including the name of the dynasty. It is tempting to assume that a full reign mark of six characters implies particular importance, but there is no indication that it does. By the Daoguang period, a number of alternative forms of mark were used without any particular significance, as far as we know.

Although the fish are concentrated in groups on the two main sides, the design is intended to be read as one, since the number nine is deeply auspicious. By means of a play on words, the nine fish (jiuyu) motif also constitutes a rebus for the term 'nine likenesses' or 'nine comparisons' (jiuru), which signifies longevity by allusion to 'Heaven's Blessings', a poem from the Shijing ( Book of Songs) that makes nine comparisons between the longevity of the ruler and the southern mountain, the rising of the sun, the pines and cypresses, and so forth; the poem is published in Treasury 4 under no. 561. Because of the symbolism, swimming fan-tailed goldfish were a popular subject, appearing on porcelain snuff bottles throughout the nineteenth century.

For another version of this design, also with a Daoguang reign mark, see Moss 1976, no. 69, and for another similar subject in the Bloch Collection, but with five goldfish, see no. 1308. One more was sold at Sotheby's, Paris, 11 June 2009, lot 4.


喜洋洋的九條金魚

瓷胎，無色釉上施鐵紅、金、黑色琺瑯彩；凸唇、略內凹底足；繪九條金魚，一正面五條，另一面四條，十八眼以黑彩點睛，加上金色細節；足有鐵紅"大清道光年製"六字篆款；唇施釉，頸內壁不施釉，腹內壁施淡淡的一層薄釉

景德鎮官窯， 1821～1850
高：5.91 厘米
口經/唇經：0.70/1.49 厘米
蓋：綠松石，珍珠頂飾，描金銀座
狀態敘述：唇呈現蓋子磨擦的痕跡，足緣亦有所磨擦；因累年觸摸，壺面亦有一般性的磨損與擦痕；一般相對的狀態：極善

有彼德小話 (Peter Suart) 水彩畫

來源：
羅伯特．霍爾（1987）
文獻﹕
Hall 1987, 編號61
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, 編號169
Treasury 6, 編號1304
展覽﹕
香港藝術館，1994年3 月～6月
National Museum of Singapore, 1994年11月～1995年1月

說明：
鐵紅是粉彩調色板最淡的琺瑯彩料之一，施濃色淡彩、勾輪廓畫點皴、配合別的顏色或用單色畫法都行。本圖用淡彩畫出魚形，鱗與鰭的細部以金彩加上，眼珠以黑色點出，配色方案異乎尋常而增強表現效果，金彩幸而保存，造出水下鱗光閃閃的印象。這是道光時期用顏色範圍極有限的畫法非常成功的成果，佈局好，圖景活靈活現映在我們的面前。