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Presented below are photographs of Chinese jade carvings of goldfish and other Chinese goldfish art.
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Highly stylized portrayal of bubble eye goldfish with long dorsal fins flowing over their tails; there are no photographs of dorsalled bubble eyes in this website in that they would fail the Western type test which is for dorsal-less bubble eyes; but they are a variety found in China, which recognizes about 300 varieties.
Green and brown jade with the brown seam forming the eyes mostly cut away to reveal the green seam forming the bodies beneath. Photographed at the Dingling Tomb, Ming Dynasty Tombs, 50km north of Beijing (Peking), China, in September 2010. These are modern works of art, on display for sale.
Glass vase portraying globe eye goldfish (dragon eye goldfish, according to Chinese nomenclature), shown about half the actual size. Photographed at Chinese Arts and Crafts, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong in August 2006.
This carving contains four pairs of goldfish: bubble eyes, globe eyes, orandas and man-yu (fantail-veiltail intermediate - see Oriental Twintail). Notice the short dorsal fins and fairly long, deeply forked tails with pointed tail lobes, typical of Chinese goldfish.
The carving is about 20 cm (8 inches) across at the base and 10 cm (4 inches) tall, and is shown 3/4 of actual size. It was photographed in Chinese Arts and Crafts, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong in December 2000.
This carving is larger and more complex, containing two bubble eyes, two egg fish (at bottom left and extreme right - see Eggfish), five orandas (including 2 on the reverse), six man-yu (see Oriental Twintail) and one velvetyball man-yu (at extreme left - see Dorsalled Pompons).
The carving is about 21 cm (8½ inches) across at the centre and 25 cm (10 inches) tall (excluding the plinth), and it too is shown 3/4 of actual size. It was photographed at Yue Hwa Emporium, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong in December 2000 (and, for information, was valued at about £8,000 Sterling).