QIANLONG/JIAQING PERIOD (1736-1820)

Ceramic vases in the shape of paired fish became popular among various kilns in China during the ninth century. See for example a Yue ware vase in the shape of two fish in the Percival David Foundation Collection illustrated by R. Scott, Imperial Taste: Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, Los Angeles and San Francisco, 1989, pl. 1, where the author also points out that the paired fish became a popular motif on metalwork after the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism in the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368). The fish has traditionally been regarded as a symbol of fertility and abundance, and the entwined paired fish, homophone for continuous abundance, has long been favoured as an auspicious symbol in Chinese decorative arts. It is also one of the Bajixiang, 'Eight Buddhist Emblems'.