A JAPANESE ARITA MODEL OF A LEAPING CARP

A JAPANESE ARITA MODEL OF A LEAPING CARP

EDO PERIOD, C.1710

The large fish with its body contorted and its mouth open, the moulded scales with washes of cobalt blue and further details accentuated in red paint, raised on a square base, 29.8cm.

Provenance: from the collection of George and Cornelia Wingfield Digby and thence by descent. George and Cornelia Wingfield Digby started buying Chinese and Japanese art, notably porcelain, in the early 1950s. George Wingfield Digby (1911-1989) joined the Victoria & Albert Museum's Textile Department in 1934 and later served as Keeper between 1947 and 1972. He considerably expanded the V&A's textile collection and wrote three books on the subject. He also released three further publications on different fields of art, including The Work of the Modern Potter in England (1952), which he wrote with his wife Cornelia. In addition to their extensive Asian Art collection, they also acquired a significant number of studio pottery pieces which were lent to the Tate, St Ives in 1993. After retiring, they settled in Dorset and part of their Chinese and Japanese art collection was exhibited at Sherborne Castle for 25 years.

Cf. M Cohen and W Motley, Mandarin and Menagerie, Chinese and Japanese export ceramics figures, pp.134-5 no.8.1, for two comparable leaping carp.