CHINE, DYNASTIE SONG-YUAN (960-1279)

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. Other examples are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Lung-chu'än Ware, Ko Ware and other Wares, Taipei, 1974, pl. 26, and in the Percival David Foundation, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares, rev. ed., London, 1997, p. 27, no. 265.