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Scientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence analysis report issued by Oxford Authentication on 10 August 2026, based on sample number P126j89, sets the firing date of the sample taken between 200 and 300 years ago, consistent with the dating above. A copy of the report accompanies this lot.
Expert’s note: The present lot belongs to a tradition of twin-fish vessels that spans more than a thousand years. The fish (yu) is one of the most enduring auspicious symbols in Chinese art, evoking fertility, abundance, and prosperity. Paired fish, with their sense of doubling and continuity, became a favored emblem of continuous abundance and were also incorporated among the Bajixiang, the Eight Buddhist Emblems. Ceramic vessels in the form of conjoined fish were already produced in China by the ninth century. Tang dynasty examples (fig. 1) are known from the Belitung shipwreck, whose cargo included over 50,000 Changsha/Tongguan kiln ceramics from Hunan province and is now housed at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore. The motif gained further prominence in metalwork after the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism during the Yuan dynasty. The strength of the twin-fish form lies in its long survival across materials and cultures. It appears in porcelain, metalwork, and cloisonné enamel, including a pair cloisonné enamel vases dated Qianlong-Jiaqing period at Christie’s London, 23 May 2024, lot 94 (fig. 2), sold for GBP 126,000 or approximately EUR 160,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). The motif also entered European decorative art in the nineteenth century, as seen in Christofle & Cie’s 1874 Vase modèle Deux Poissons (fig. 3), designed by Emile Reiber and executed in cloisonné enamel, electro-gilt bronze, and colored glass, now in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, inventory number RF MO OAO 2019 2.
China, circa 1720-1820. Superbly potted in the form of two conjoined carp, their rounded bodies rising from a flared tail-form foot to a short circular mouth, with an everted rim. The vase is vividly glazed in deep cobalt blue, the overlapping scales carefully picked out across the swelling body, while the eyes, gills, fins, tail, and raised details are accented in a rich red tone. The glaze stopping neatly above the recessed base.
Provenance: The Jane Stanton Hitchcock Collection, New York, United States. The base inscribed with an old inventory number, ‘662’. Jane Stanton Hitchcock (1946-2025) lived a life that seemed almost written for one of her own novels: elegant, sharp-witted, privileged, dramatic, and never without intrigue. Born in Manhattan, she was the daughter of surgeon Robert Crowley and radio actress Louise Abrass Crowley, better known as Joan Alexander, the original radio voice of Lois Lane in ‘The Adventures of Superman.’ She was later adopted by her mother’s second husband, Arthur Stanton, the postwar Volkswagen importer, and grew up at 10 Gracie Square, where her parents’ circle included figures such as Leonard Bernstein and Neil Simon. Educated at Brearley, Wheeler, and Sarah Lawrence, Hitchcock first wrote for stage and screen before becoming a bestselling mystery novelist, turning the worlds of New York and Washington society into scenes of wit, satire, and murder. Her own life supplied material as vivid as fiction: marriages to William Mellon Hitchcock, heir to the Gulf Oil fortune, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim Hoagland; success as a poker player; and the financial scandal that devastated her mother’s fortune and inspired ‘Bluff,’ winner of the Dashiell Hammett Prize. Her collection, formed with the same eye for elegance and drama, included art, furniture, decorations, silver, Asian works of art, books, and jewelry.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear and manufacturing irregularities. The mouth with a small shallow chip, the foot with a minuscule crack, and the base drilled with a small aperture. Small hole from sample-taking, now filled.
Weight: 5 kg
Dimensions: Height 43.6 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related porcelain double fish vase with gilt-bronze fittings, dated Qing dynasty, dated circa 1840, 66 cm high, on Sotheby’s Private Sale website, priced at USD 90,000 (or approx. EUR 79,000 converted at the time of writing).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 25 October 2022, lot 1514
Price: USD 37,800 or approx. EUR 37,000 (for two) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of French ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain twin fish vases, the porcelain Qianlong (1735-1796), the mounts last quarter 19th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form and design. Note the enameled decoration, Ormolu mountings, and much smaller size (21.5 cm).
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