A LONGQUAN CELADON TWIN-FISH DISH

SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)

Details

A LONGQUAN CELADON TWIN-FISH DISH
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
The exterior of the deep rounded sides carved with a band of petals rising from the foot to the flat everted rim, and the interior decorated in the center with two molded fish, covered overall with a glaze of sea-green tone except for the foot rim burnt reddish-brown in the firing
8 in. (20.3 cm.) diam., box

Provenance

Riesco Collection, no. 100a.
Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1986, lot 172.

Literature

E. Bluett, The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, p. 28, fig. 44.

Lot Essay

Paired fish symbolize fertility and connubial bliss, and they are also one of the Eight Buddhist symbols.

Dishes of this type, known as 'twin fish' dishes, were popular products of the Longquan kilns during the late Southern Song to early Ming period. Similar dishes have been recovered from Southern Song kilns in the Longquan region, such as the bowl unearthed at Jincun, illustrated in Longquan qingci yanjiu, Beijing, 1989, pl. 36:3. Longquan molded fish dishes of this type were recovered from the cargo of a trading vessel that sank off the coast of Sinan, South Korea, in the 1320s, and were included in the Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, National Museum of Korea, Seoul, 1977, pl. 28.

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