QIANLONG PERIOD

Details

A RARE CARP TUREEN AND COVER
QIANLONG PERIOD
The large fish flopped on its side with head and tail curving up, gilt seaweed trailing from its open mouth with gilt speckling between the black and white enamelled eyes, the gills pale gray with fins and tail in peach shading to marbled gray enriched in gilt, the molded scale pattern edged in darker iron-red and on the cover a small fish serving as knop
19 in. (48.2 cm.) long

Lot Essay

The carp has long been a symbol of strength and long-life in China, and one often used in the decorative arts. In Chinese legend a carp turned itself into a dragon after swimming up a waterfall. As a ceramic tradition fish were adopted, probably from Japan, in both China and Europe, where factories such as Chelsea were advertising naturalistically modeled fish tureens by the mid-18th century. See W.R. Sargent, op. cit., pp. 212-15, for a discussion of these influences and a very similar tureen, though without color, from the Copeland collection.

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