May your household be piled high with gold and jade
金玉满堂
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The accumulation of family wealth in traditional China was lauded as jin yu man tang 金玉满堂 – a household is piled high with gold and jade. This saying was visually expressed with a design of goldfish in a pond; jin yu 金鱼 (goldfish) makes a pun on jin 金 (gold) and yu 玉 (jade), while the state of a pond (tang 塘) being filled with fish (man tang 满塘) sounds the same as mang tang 满堂 ‘a hall being filled with something.’
Other auspicious wishes:
Fig 1: porcelain dish with overglaze enamelled decoration, Qianlong period (1736–95), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Fig 2: porcelain dish, Jiaqing period (1796–1820), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the Guimet Museum, Paris
Fig 3: porcelain snuff-bottle, Daoguang period (1821–50), Qing dynasty, courtesy of Palace Museum, Beijing
Fig 4: porcelain bowl, Daoguang period (1821–50), Qing dynasty, courtesy of the Walters Art Museum
Fig 5-6: porcelain bowl, 19th century, courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum
Fig 7: famille verte porcelain jar, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Fig 8-9: folk new year picture, Yangliuqing New Year Woodblock Prints, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), courtesy of the collection of China Intangible Heritage Industry Alliance
Fig 10: folk new year picture, wood-block print, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Tancheng County, Linyi City, Shandong Province, China