These basins are decorated with various types of fish and crustaceans swimming between aquatic plants. The cobalt blue and copper red underglaze painting is vibrant yet finely nuanced. In China, such basins were used to keep ornamental fish.
In Chinese culture, fish play an important role, symbolising good fortune and abundance.
When these basins were made in around 1700 in the era of Emperor Kangxi, China already had a centuries-old tradition of porcelain production. Dutch merchants were especially active in shipping Chinese porcelain to Europe.
Further Media
- Material & Technique
- Porcelain, painting: underglaze cobalt blue and copper red
- Museum
- Porzellansammlung
- Dating
- China, Jingdezhen, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi period (1662-1722), c. 1700
- Inventory number
- PO 968