Globular Jar

An important innovation in the Jiajing period at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen was “five-color” (wucai) decoration, a combination of underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome enamels, used here to create a dramatic depiction of gold carp darting among reeds. The shoulder of the vessel is decorated with a lotus-petal motif. The Chinese character for fish (yu) is a homophone for “abundance” or “surplus,” and the one for lotus (lian) is a homophone for “continuous”; a lotus combined with a fish becomes a rebus to represent the phrase, “May you continuously have abundance year after year” (liannian youyu). The image of a fish and lotus was also a metaphor for career advancement, as in one leaping to success.