The Fish with the Ruby Eyes

1740-1860
Height: 5.87 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.82/1.91 cm
Stopper: ruby; gilt-silver collar

Provenance:
From a tomb in the environs of Bejing (by repute)
Tianya Guwan cheng, Shop 823, Beijing, May 2016

 

Opaque jasper of variegated dark green colour with streaks of greenish ochre and hints of dark cinnabar red; with a concave lip and slightly concave foot surrounded by a protruding, convex footrim; carved with a continuous design of turbulent, formalized, cresting waves from which a large carp leaps, one on each side, their eyes inlaid with ruby cabochons.

Alexander Whittaker