A pair of Arita Carp
A Pair of Japanese Arita Porcelain Leaping Carp
Late 17th-Early 18th Century
Height: 13 ½ in. (34 cm.) Width: 8 in. (20 cm.) Depth: 5 ½ in. (13.8cm.)
Comparative Literature
C.C. Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection, Volume IV: Porcelain, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1970, pp. 426–427, No. 97 for a pair of carp placed on gilt bronze bases.
Carp motifs are rare. The form is mentioned only four times in the sales journal of the famous Parisian marchand-mercier, Lazare Duvaux, none of which are mounted.
On March 20, 1756, he sold the Duc d’Orléans, Two antique porcelain carp on rustic rocks, for 14 louis 336 l. This was an exceptionally high price at the time.
A mounted carp appears in the background of the full-length portrait by Henri-Pierre Danloux of the sophisticated collector, the Baron de Besenval (1722–1791) in his Parisian Salon.