Page 96 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

四 49. Carp, liyu, naturalistically carved with open mouth, bulging eyes and detailed work to the nostrils, scales and fins, swimming amongst

十 crested waves swirling on the underside, the stone white, russet and grey.
九 3 ¾ inches, 9.5 cm long.

Kangxi/Qianlong, 17th/18th century.
鯉

魚 • From the collection of a private family in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear.

灰 • A similar carp, with young swimming amongst waves, from the collection of B. S. McElney, is illustrated by James C. Y. Watt in
白 Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, An Exhibition Held at Asia House Gallery, New York, 1980, no. 90, p. 103, and colour page
玉 106, where the author notes, ‘This masterpiece of jade carving employs as much as possible of the original stone and turns it
into a most realistic representation. The waves, both mannered and realistic, exhibit the first signs of the Ch’ing style of treating

康 the wave base.’ It is illustrated again by Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney in Jades from China, The Museum of East Asian
熙 Art, Bath, no. 327, p. 397; another, with similar curved body and detailed scales, above waves, from the Sir Ratan Tata Art
/ Collection (formerly in the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India), is illustrated by Terese Tse Bartholomew and He Li in
乾 The Tata Collection of Chinese Antiquities, no. 50, p. 79.
隆 • Another carp amongst lotus, from the collection of Jack Lowenthal, purchased from Douglas J. K. Wright, 12th June 1974, was

included by Marchant in their 80th anniversary exhibition of Chinese Jades from Han to Qing, 2005, no. 77, pp. 82/3.

• The carp, liyu, is a hardy fish that can endure the harshest of weather and became the symbol of the scholar who perseveres

through scholarship to become a high official. The word for goldfish, a member of the carp family, jinyu, forms a play on words,

as it sounds like the phrase jinyu tonghe, which is a wish for riches, gold and jade.

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