A large and important white jade marriage bowl, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period

French Private Collection.

Intricately carved from an attractive green stone, the present bowl is awash with symbolism. The catfish, or nianyu, is identified by its broad head and long whiskers. The first character – nian – is a pun on the character for ‘year’, while ‘fish’ – yu – is homophonous with the word for ‘plenty’. Read together, this graceful pair thus comes to represent a blessing: niannian yuyu, ‘may you have year after year of plenty’.

Compare a related oval marriage bowl in the collection of the Fondation Baur, Geneva with relief catfish in the well of the interior and large butterfly loose ring handles, illustrated by Pierre-F. Schneeberger in The Baur Collection. Chinese Jades and Other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, pl. B11; and another, of white jade and slightly later style, sold from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in these rooms, 17th March 2021, lot 7.