Page 31 - Sotheby's May 10th 2017 London Animal Menagerie, Chinese Art

Aquatic creatures represent one of the earliest decorative motifs in China and are closely
associated with the concept of the dragon. Reproduced since Neolithic times, these creatures
acquired importance with the spread of Daoism and quickly became highly versatile in their
connotations and contexts. The fresh water creatures depicted in paintings, jade, metal and
other materials are those found in China’s lakes and rivers. They include the fresh-water
crab (xie), symbolic of success in attaining the civil service examinations; the carp (li),
whose Chinese name is homophonous with the word for strength and power; the mandarin
fish (gui yu), recognizable by its spiky dorsal fin; the goldfish (jinyu), which has a similar
pronunciation with the characters for gold and jade; and the catfish (nian).

Images of fish darting among densely populated water plants were particularly favoured and
depicted in various media including painting, jade and porcelain. The successful portrayal
of fish required the artist to sharpen his observation directly from nature and utilise his
technical skills to capture its lively movements. The attractiveness of this subject stemmed
from their auspicious connotations. In Daoist philosophy fish are associated with freedom
from restraints and vitality, as expressed in many passages from the Daoist text Zhuangzi
by Zhuang Zhou (c. 370-300) and on the colophon dated corresponding to 1291 on the
painting The Pleasure of Fish by Zhou Dongqing

Not being fish, how do we know their happiness?
We can only take an ideal and make it into a painting.
To probe the subtleties of the ordinary,
We must describe the indescribable.

While in literati circles images of fish became symbolic of freedom, in popular culture these
images were emblematic of abundance, as the word for fish, yu, is homophonous with the
word for abundance. On ceramics, as well as in jade such as lot 22 and 24, fish are often
depicted in pairs to create the pun shuangyu jiqing (‘May you be blessed in connubial bliss,
fecundity, and an abundance of good luck’).

(Le ) Zhou Dongqing, e Pleasures of Fish, ink and colour on paper, handscroll, Yuan dynasty (1291).
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.