Catfish

Identified by their long barbels, two catfish--one mature and one young, with its head emerging from the curve of the older fish's tail--snuggle together to form an oval that is confined by the shape of the dark brown pebble. The modeling is a bit flat but smooth, and makes a perfect fondling piece.

The catfish is called nianyu in Chinese, a pun for "year" and "abundance." Two catfish by themselves represent the auspicious phrase nian nian you yu, or "abundance year after year." The larger fish carries a bifurcating branch with two heads of grain, one appearing on the side, the other below. The grain is a symbol for a bumper harvest, while the two catfish are homophonous with "year." The motif thus represents niannian fengshou, or "bumper harvest year after year." In other example of the catfish motif (see cat. no.), they can be carrying the wish-granting fungus, forming the rebus for niannian ruyi, or "may your wishes come true year after year."
Carvings of twin animals, such as the example above and the double felines known as shuang huan, flourished in the 1700s (Watt [year], 69). This tradition continued to the end of the Qing dynasty, and such jade animals are still being made today.