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Lot Essay
A range of innovative porcelain shapes was introduced during the Jiajing period. This square bowl, with slightly rounded sides and flat base, appears to be less common than the type of square bowl, also seen with Jiajing marks, with flaring sides raised on a short foot. For an example of the latter type see Chinese Porcelain: The S.C. Tianminlou Collection, Part I, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 118, no. 70, where it is noted that square bowls of this type were popular during the Jiajing period but their popularity declined after the Wanli period.
The subject of a fish with lotus forms the rebus meaning '[May you have] abundance year after year.' The word for carp is li which sounds like the word for profit, and thus two or more carp would represent multiple profit. The pronunciation of the word for carp also suggests the Confucian li of moral uprightness. In addition, the carp represents the scholar who strives to be successful in his civil service examinations and to become a jinshi, and thus gain a good official position. Legend tells of the carp swimming upstream every spring to the Dragon Gate on the Yellow River. If it succeeds in leaping over the gate, it is transformed into a dragon.
The subject of a fish with lotus forms the rebus meaning '[May you have] abundance year after year.' The word for carp is li which sounds like the word for profit, and thus two or more carp would represent multiple profit. The pronunciation of the word for carp also suggests the Confucian li of moral uprightness. In addition, the carp represents the scholar who strives to be successful in his civil service examinations and to become a jinshi, and thus gain a good official position. Legend tells of the carp swimming upstream every spring to the Dragon Gate on the Yellow River. If it succeeds in leaping over the gate, it is transformed into a dragon.