Ancient Chinese Art
Snuff bottle, Design of Fish and Lotus Leaf, white glass with green overlay, height 7 cm. Qing dynasty, 19th century. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
Some symbols refer not to scholarly achievement or rank, but to money or gold. The fish (yu) is a rebus for �abundance.� Two fish stand for �double abundance.� The gold fish (jinyu) can be read as �an abundance of gold.� When wrapped in a lotus leaf, it adds another element to the rebus. Now it reads hebao jinyu, or �an abundance of money in one�s purse.�