17TH CENTURY

The motif of twin fish on the present dish looks back to Song-dynasty versions that were produced with celadon glazes. An emblem of harmony, it is symbolic of "connubial felicity." A smaller soft-paste white porcelain dish incised with twin fish in waves is illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, vol. 3, Monochrome: Glazed Porcelain of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Geneva, 1972, no. A429, described as “imitating Sung Ting ware”.