Art Price Index: Handsome Chinese Fishbowls in Porcelain

Published on 12 November 2020, by Anne Doridou-Heim

In their porcelain universe, little goldfish go around in circles.

€15,937China, second half of 19th century. Porcelain aquarium decorated with precious... Art Price Index: Handsome Chinese Fishbowls in Porcelain

€15,937
China, second half of 19^th century. Porcelain aquarium decorated with precious Buddhist and Daoist objects in shallow relief and polychrome, h. 40 cm (approx. 15.7 in.), dia. 46 cm (approx. 18.1 in.).
Paris, Drouot, April 4, 2018. Delon-Hoebanx auction house. Cabinet Portier & Associés

Goldfish are native to China, where they resulted from a natural mutation developed through breeding in ponds in the 7 th and 8 th centuries. During the Song dynasty (960-1279), it was forbidden to either catch or eat them. In 1162, a stone-bordered pond was built near the imperial palace; much later, during the Ming period , the first aquarium appeared,…

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