Page 25 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Dish
i8th
Qing dynasty, century
Nephrite
H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
R.
Gft ofHeber Bishop, 1902
02.18.397
our endearing boys are depicted two to a are said to represent good government, and in the four children on its sides. Two birds hold-
side on this unusually shaped dish, which others, victory. ing rings in their mouths are found at either
probably contained water on a scholar's desk. This object illustrates the ability of end. The skill of the carver in creating such
A child on one side holds a ruyi, the scepter eighteenth-century craftsmen to manipulate freestanding rings from one piece of jade
with a mushroom-shaped top. His companion, the hard nephrite. The square edges contrast demonstrates the high level of technology
who kneels to lift the vessel, wears a vest dec- well with the softer features and physiques of found in Qing-dynasty jades. DPL
orated with a coinlike disk reading "taiping"
(great peace). One boy on the other side of
the dish carries a vase filled with coral and has
hanging from a string around his neck a medal-
lion composed of twin fish, which signify abun-
dance and conjugal harmony; the second boy
carries a peach, an emblem of longevity. The
lads and their symbols reiterate the auspicious-
ness of the dish's shape, which derives from
marriage cups known as sixibei (cups of four-
of
fold joy), because they are composed paired
rhombi, signifying the union of two individu-
als. Paired rhombi, which are also among the
eight lucky symbols, became common in many
aspects of Chinese culture and in some texts

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