A CHINESE LONGQUAN CELADON 'TWIN FISH' DISH

Southern Song / Yuan Dynasty

南宋或元 龍泉青釉雙魚紋折沿盤

The small dish with moulded petal-form sides rising from a short foot to a wide flared rim, the well decorated with a pair of moulded fish and covered overall in a thick pale-green glaze that thins to a mushroom tone at the extremities,

13.4cm diameter

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REFERENCE:

Similar dishes, dated to the Yuan Dynasty, can be found in the British Museum collection, donated by Sir Percival David, acc. nos. 1931,1118.1 and 1931,1118.2. A pair of similar dishes were offered at Bonhams Hong Kong, 26th May 2014, lot 87.

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NOTE:

Paired dishes are symbolic of fertility and marital bliss. The motif can be traced back to the Han Dynasty - for example, bronze vessels decorated with the 'twin fish' motif were popular from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty. A bronze basin with a twin-fish decoration to the interior is housed in the Lee Kong Chian Art Museum in Singapore, and illustrated in 'Lee Kong Chian Art Museum Catalogue: National University of Singapore', Singapore, 1990, p. 306, no. 336.

These bronze vessels were used as prototypes, inspiring future potters to craft wares with similar designs. Yue wares from the Western Jin Dynasty bearing the paired fish motif have since been unearthed, and a basin of this type with incised decoration is illustrated by S. Pierson, in 'Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art', 1997, p.39, no.250. Notably the design on this basin illustrates the pair of fish side-by-side, as is also found on earlier bronze wares, rather than the circular 'swimming' depiction found on later ceramics.

Later celadon-glazed ceramics bearing this design were popular, with the Longquan kilns being the centre of production during the late Southern Song Dynasty and up until the Ming Dynasty. Some examples of these wares, dated to the 1320s, have been recovered from the cargo of a trading vessel that sank near the coast of Sinan in South Korea, and are included in 'Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast', National Museum of Korea, Seoul, 1977, pl. 28.