Page 83 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT AMERICAN PRIVATE 清光緒 銀鎏金鏤空纍絲鑲翠玉如意
COLLECTION
A JADEITE-INLAID AND CHAMPLEVÉ- 來源
ENAMELED GILT-SILVER FILIGREE RUYI Edward Choate O’Dell (1901-1982) 收藏，得於巴爾的
SCEPTER 摩，1950年代中
QING DYNASTY, GUANGXU PERIOD
Length 24 in., 61 cm
PROVENANCE
Collection of Edward Choate O’Dell (1901-1982), acquired in
Baltimore in the mid-1950s.
Magnificently executed in intricate filigree work, the present
piece stands as testimony to the brilliant heights achieved
by the craftsmen at the Qing Imperial Court. Woven into a
network of interlocking circular chains, the wires shape the
form of the ruyi while delicately fashioned butterflies and
shou characters surround the jadeite plaques. The plaques
depict blooming florals or a mythical beast, and between
them champlevé enamels of auspicious Daoist symbols
grace the shaft.
Closely related jadeite-inlaid ruyi scepters can be seen in
important museum and private collections. See two in the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Auspicious Ju-i
Scepters of China, Taipei, 1995, pls 47-48; another closely-
related ruyi, formerly in the Elizabeth W. Coles and Francis
Ralston Welsh collections, was exhibited at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, from 1892 to 1917, before being
donated to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in
the 1950s. It is currently on loan to the Birmingham Museum
of Art, Alabama.

$ 50,000-70,000

162 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 163