Page 26 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

3604

PROPERTY FROM A HONG KONG PRIVATE 清乾隆 白玉雙童子耳爐
FAMILY COLLECTION
來源：
A WHITE JADE ‘BOYS’ INCENSE 紐約佳士得1988年9月23/24日，編號252
BURNER Spink & Son Ltd，倫敦，1998年6月19日
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG
PERIOD

finely modelled with deep rounded sides rising
from four ruyi feet to an incurved rim, the handles
formed from two boys fashioned in the round,
with their arms and legs perched on the rim
and the side of the vessel, one boy depicted
holding a spray of nandina berries while the
other clutching a ruyi sceptre in the hand, both
dressed in loose fitting robes, their faces with a
cheerful expression and the hair gathered into
two topknots, the interior of the bowl worked
in relief with a bat, the well-polished stone of a
translucent even white colour
13 cm, 5⅛ in.

PROVENANCE

Christie’s New York, 23rd/24th September 1988,
lot 252.
Spink & Son Ltd, London, 19th June 1998.

HK$ 500,000-700,000
US$ 64,000-89,500

This jade incense burner is deftly modelled with
two boys carved in the round playfully grasping
the slightly incurved rim of the vessel. The
even and translucent tone of the white stone is
accentuated through the finely finished surface
of the vessel which has been left undecorated.
Compare a slightly smaller vessel of this form and
with handles in the form of boys, but raised on
bat-shaped feet, from the Qing court collection
and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum.
Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 163, together
with one carved with a bat resting its wings on the
rim, pl. 164.

Vessels of this type, with handles in the form
of figures, follow prototypes made from as
early as the Song dynasty. See for example a
bowl attributed to the Song period, illustrated
in Compendium of Collections in the Palace
Museum. Jade, vol. 5, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin and
Yuan Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, pl. 56.

24 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比