Page 110 - Bonhams Wen Tang Collectiont, October 2014 Hong Kong

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148 A pair of fish is one of the Eight Buddhist Emblems, representing good
A rare straw-glazed ‘double-fish’ vase fortune. In Chinese tradition, fish (carp in particular, because they
Late Tang/Five Dynasties are believed to swim in pairs) symbolise marital companionship and
Modelled as two conjoined fish with tails forming the foot, with two happiness. The Chinese character for fish ‘yu’ is pronounced as the
loop handles on each side of the body, covered overall in a greenish- character for abundance; thus two fish symbolise double abundance,
straw glaze with darker spots on the eyes, handles and fins. ‘shuang yu.’
21cm high
Double-fish-shaped vases or flasks were popular during the later 9th
HK$150,000 - 200,000 century. A Xingyao conjoined double-fish flask from the Five Dynasties
US$19,000 - 26,000 period, excavated from a site in Jingxing county, Hebei Province, in the
Hebei Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics, From the
晚唐/五代 白釉雙魚形穿帶瓶 Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty, Yale University Press New
Haven, 2010, p.242, fig.5.46.

唇口，通體渾圓，雙魚合抱，雙魚頭狀溜肩，圓腹，收足，成觀音尊

式。此瓶浮雕雙魚合抱，魚頭、翅、鰭、尾刻劃略為抽象。通體施草

灰釉。整體造型工整、色彩樸質，其形象依據現實而剝離，別有意

境。寓意連年有餘，吉祥、喜慶，藝術格調高雅，實屬難得，為收藏

不可多得之器物。

雙魚狀瓶是九世紀後期常見題材，河北省博物館藏一件五代刑窯雙魚

形瓶，出土於河北省井陘縣，著錄於《Chinese Ceramics, From the
Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty》，紐哈芬，2010年，頁
242，圖5.46。其他相關例子可參閱《中國陶瓷全集5》，上海，2000
年。

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