Antique Wood Oil Lamp with Double Fish, Lotus Design, China (16902B-POK) $295

Description

This charming antique oil lamp with a lacquer coating is decorated with highly recognized auspicious symbols and was used to entice positive energy and luck to the fortunate owners, especially as it related to marriage and fertility to produce many sons. Fish symbolize harmony, marital happiness and are known for their happiness swimming in their environment and double fish mean “may there be abundance.” The round stand is decorated with red and green lotus leaves and the oil cup is carved as a large lotus seed pod above an undulating lotus leaf. Two words for lotus are hehua, a pun for harmony (he) and lianhua, a homophone meaning successive or continuous (lian). They are symbols of a harmonious and fruitful marriage and also mean “the continuous birth of sons,” an idea central to Chinese culture. Its seedpod blooms early and its many seeds are a symbol and harbinger of ‘the early arrival of sons.”  Oil lamps like this may have originally been gifts for a newly wed couple and would serve the same purpose today and pairs well with Antique Oil Wood Lamp (16902A).  Part of the VA Antique-Chinese-Wood-Carving collection, this folk-art piece is in excellent condition, and was a well-used piece demonstrated by charred cup edges common to most old wood lamps.