Page 40 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

9
A LARGE MUGHAL-STYLE SPINACH-GREEN JADE
SAUCER DISH
18th century
27.1cm (10 5/8in) diam.
十八世紀 痕都斯坦式碧玉菊瓣紋盤

Provenance:
Spink & Son Ltd., London
R.H.R Palmer (1898-1970), acquired from the above in June 1934,
Collection no.113

Published and Exhibited:
The Oriental Ceramic Society, Chinese Jades: Illustrated Catalogue,
London, 1948, no.185

來源：
倫敦古董商Spink & Son Ltd.
R.H.R Palmer（1898-1970）於1934年6月購自上者，典藏編號113

展覽著錄：
倫敦東方陶瓷學會，《Chinese Jades: Illustrated Catalogue》，
倫敦，1948年，編號185

This large and thinly carved jade dish, elaborately representing on The Qianlong Emperor avidly collected a notable group still held in the
both back and front a flowerhead with overlapping petals, represents former Imperial collection in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan; see
one of the relatively small group of jades carved in China which were Exquisite Beauty - Islamic Jades, Taipei, 2007, and Treasures from
very strongly influenced by the lapidary skills and traditions of Mughal across the Kunlun Mountains: Islamic Jades in the National Palace
India. They are often very thinly carved and highly polished, the stone Museum Collection, Taipei, 2015, also including Ottoman jades which
frequently of darkish spinach tone, and the entire visible surface were considered by him to be from ‘Hindustan’ as well as Chinese
covered with dense floral or geometric (never figural) decoration; Mughal-style jade carvings. The Emperor eulogised their translucency
to an extent not really seen in Chinese design since the dense overall and delicacy in poetry.
patterns (found on the front only) of the large blue and white dishes
made for the Indian and Islamic markets during the mid-14th century. A jade dish of this kind, so thinly carved as to be almost translucent,
must surely have served only as a display piece to demonstrate the
The Qianlong Emperor was renowned for his interest in ‘Mughal’ jades. skills of the Chinese carver in simulating Mughal prototypes of these
Such was the Emperor’s fascination with these jades that in 1768 he unparalleled ‘flowerhead’ dishes. The flowerhead almost certainly
even wrote a scholarly text describing the geography of ‘Hindustan’ represents a chrysanthemum with its narrow petals and stylised foliate
and the derivation of its name, entitled Tianzhu wuyindu kao’e: see terminals. Symbolic of longevity in China, chrysanthemums were also
Yuzhi wenji, part 2, Taipei, 1983, 1301:411-2 (21:2b-5a). The Ili associated with a joyful retirement. They were the favourite flowers
Dzungars, the Mongol peoples of north western China, presented the of Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming, 365-427), a poet living during a turbulent
first known jade of this kind to the Qing Court in 1758. From 1760 period in China who retired in mid-life to a small estate to live out his
onwards, when Xinjiang (in which province Hetian is situated) came days in rustic obscurity, drinking wine and writing poetry; see S.Nelson,
totally under Qing administrative control after the destruction of the ‘Revisiting the Eastern Fence: Tao Qian’s chrysanthemums’, The Art
Dzungars by the Qianlong Emperor’s armies, still more ‘Mughal’ jades Bulletin, 2001, vol.83, no.3, pp.437-460.
were sent in as tribute by Qing officials, as well as from local chiefs
in the region. Thereafter, tribute gifts of this type continued to arrive
throughout and beyond the Emperor Qianlong’s reign.

38 | BONHAMS