明嘉靖 掐絲琺瑯魚藻紋小罐 《大明嘉靖年製》款 |

The closest example is a covered jar decorated with cranes and clouds in the Phoenix Art Museum, included in the exhibition Chinese Cloisonné. The Clague Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 1980, cat. no. 7. It shares the same form as the current jar, and is similarly enamelled in rich and brilliant enamels, the spontaneity of the cranes matching that of the fish on the current jar, with closely related freely decorated design elements, including the distinct manner in which the red ruyi border spills out of the bold gilt cloisons. Both jars are incised with six-character marks, the Phoenix Art Museum jar with the less commonly found nianzao mark.

A ‘dragon’ dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 46, shares the same incised nianzhi mark as on the current jar. Others include a ‘phoenix’ bowl and ‘dragon’ dish in the Pierre Uldry Collection, illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, London, 1989, pls 70 and 71; a dish collected by the Beijing Cultural Relics Company, and a shou character bowl and covered box in the collection of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, illustrated in Quette, ibid., pp. 243-244, cat. nos 38 and 39. 

Jiajing works of art are brimming with Daoist imagery. Most common, however, are auspicious motifs intended to protect the Emperor against the vicissitudes of fortune. The fish-and-waterplant motif has similarly been interpreted as a combination of auspicious symbols in the exhibition catalogue Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 2008, p. 210, where in connection with an ink painting of this subject by Miu Fu (active 1426-1435) it is explained that the fish represent phallic symbols, that the Chinese word for ‘fish’ is a homophone for ‘abundance’ or ‘profit’, the arrowroots imply compassion and benevolence, and the water lily symbolises peace and safety. Jiajing porcelain jars decorated in wucai enamels with the same design as the current jar are recorded in varying sizes in museum and private collections, including an example from the collection of the Walters Art Museum, sold in our New York rooms, 11th/12th September 2012, lot 262. This, however, is the only example of the period in metalwork and is an extremely rare legacy of the period.