Page 76 - Chinese Export Porcelain MARCHANT GALLERY 2015

49. Pair of famille rose and iron-red dragon-fish tureen stands of shaped oval form with foliated gilt rims, each painted
with a leaping dragon-fish in iron-red and gilt in pursuit of a flaming pearl above billowing and crested white and pink
enamelled waves, between ruyi-shaped clouds, the flat everted rim with pink flowerheads dispersed between gilt precious
objects on a green and white-enamelled wave ground.
9 ⅜ inches, 23.8 cm long.
Late Qianlong, circa 1780.
• From the T. L. Cobb Collection, Newbridge House, Donabate, Co. Dublin, and then by direct descent through
the family.
• A pair of dragon-fish-form tureens and one matching stand identical to this pair are illustrated by Maria Antónia
Pinto de Matos in The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics, A Collector’s Vision, Volume Two, no. 255, pp. 110/1, where
the author records a Chinese legend about a carp which transforms into a dragon and climbs a waterfall on its way
to the upper reaches of the Yellow River, it is thus one of the symbols of the scholar, who pursues his studies through
hardships. The subject is also associated with the rebus yuhualong, ‘fish transforming into dragons’, which implies the
wish for success in the civil service examinations.
• A set of four dragon-fish tureens, by repute from the T. L. Cobb collection, was sold by Sotheby’s London in their
auction of Chinese Decorative Arts and Export Porcelain, 3rd November 1987, lot 738, pp. 204/5.

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