Page 32 - Sothebys Fine Chinese Art London, November 2018

Fig. 1
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-6, cat. no. 2806.
圖一
國藝術國際展覽會，倫敦皇家藝術學院，1935-36年，圖版2806

of the Qianlong reign (1759), the Qing army defeated the Dzungars Comparing the Qianlong Emperor’s jades and the poems he
decisively and cemented its control in the northwestern border region of wrote about them, I find that he often referred to both spinach-
Xinjiang, which came under the rule of the central government. green (biyu) and Khotan-green (qingyu) jade as “green jade” (lüyu),
suggesting that he could not distinguish between them. Khotan-
The jade tribute system was formalized in the 25 year of the
th
green jade that had a darker shade was referred to as green jade,
Qianlong reign (1760). From then onwards, raw jade from Khotan
but historically the category encompassed greyish and whitish
and Yarkent would be sent every spring and autumn to the court,
green shades. In modern geological terms, Khotan-green jade and
amounting to 4000 jin every year. In fact, at the height of this
spinach-green jade are in fact very easy to distinguish. The former
tributary traffic, the Qing court received some 300,000 jin of raw
is formed through the corrosion of magnesium-rich marble and
jade every year. The raw jade supplied increased in both quantity
consists primarily of tremolite. The latter is formed through the
and size throughout the Qianlong reign. In the 56 year (1791), for
th
corrosion of ultramafic and, while consisting primarily also of
example, 5585 pieces of jade were sent to the court. By the latter
tremolite, it includes ferroactinolite. It tends to be green and often
part of his reign, the court had accumulated so much raw jade that
contains black dots. The category of “spinach-green jade” includes
it would sell samples of inferior quality or with too many blemishes
not only jade from Khotan, but also stones harvested in Manas in
at Chongwenmen to supplement its income.
northern Xinjiang, Russia, Canada, and Pakistan. The rich colour
This influx of raw jade provided the material foundation for the Golden of spinach-green jade is due to the small amount of chromium
Age of Chinese jade during the Qianlong reign. Famous monumental that it contains. Most of the Qing court’s spinach-green jade
jade sculptures produced during the middle and late Qianlong period was sourced from Xinjiang, particularly the Khotan area but also
include Jade Mountain with Great Yu Controlling the Waters and partly from Manas. However, Manas jade only began to be sent
Jade Mountain with the Nine Elders of Huichang, as well as several to Beijing during the latter part of the Qianlong reign, and was
monumental jade weng pots carved with dragons and clouds. During not favoured by the Emperor because it tended to be marked by
the same period, ordinary works meant for display also increased in size, large white spots and to lack “fattiness”. Consequently, the finer
including archaistic jade ding tripods and bi discs, large-scale hu vases examples of Qianlong-period spinach-green jade, those on which
carved with birds and fishes, and incense tubes. All these works were the Emperor composed original poems, were virtually all created
made possible by the ample and stable supply of raw jade. from raw spinach-green jade from the Khotan region.

30 SOTHEBY’S