Page 175 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
265
A SUPERB CELADON AND RUSSET JADE PEBBLE ‘GOLDFISH’ For another white and russet jade carving of a fish wrapped in a lotus
SNUFF BOTTLE pad and cleverly utilizing areas of the russet skin to great effect, see
1750-1830 Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and
Cleverly carved from a pebble utilizing the russet skin to great effect George Bloch, London, 1995, pp. 128-129, no. 75. Another, ibid.,
to highlight the lotus pad and stem that the fish holds in its mouth and p. 150, no. 90 has a fan-tailed goldfish carved from a pure white
which runs along one side of its scaly body towards the fishes curled nephrite.
fan tail which further uses the russet skin for highlights.
2 3/4in (7cm) across Another more slender nephrite pebble bottle, also in the form of
goldfish, and displaying areas of russet skin to its surface, is illustrated
$5,000 - 7,000 in Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, (Gugong
biyanhu xuancui), Beijing, 1995, p. 137, no 130.
1750-1830年 青玉帶皮魚形鼻煙壺
For a comparable example in quartz, see Michael C. Hughes, The
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Baltimore, 2009,
pp.100-101, no. 79.

The fish is an extremely popular subject in Chinese art. This
example which almost certainly depicts a goldfish, jinyu, which is
homophonous with the term meaning ‘gold and jade’, i.e. wealth. The
second sound, yu, also represents abundance or plenty and given as
a gift, this meaning would certainly be well understood.

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