Page 156 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC

80 A LARGE PALE CELADON JADE
‘NINE PEACH’ BRUSHPOT
⋩ 曺 炈 19TH / 20TH CENTURY
ḅġ 䘥 Ḧ of cylindrical form, the exterior carved in high relief with a
İġ 䌱 昮 gnarled peach tree, its knotted trunk issuing long undulating
Ḵ 晽 ⽉ branches in each direction, the limbs sprawling around the sides
⋩ ḅ 墥 of the pot and bearing nine large ripe peaches and clusters of
ᶾ 㟫 炉 twisting leaves, a crane soaring above one of the branches, a
䲨ġġġ 䌣 ầ sprig of lingzhi sprouting at the base of the tree and another by
⢥ 㫦 the rockwork, the ground rising and falling in crests around the
⚾ foot, the base with an apocryphal Qianlong yuzhi seal mark, the
䫮 stone a greenish-white color with icy inclusions.
䫺
Height 6 in., 15.2 cm

PROVENANCE Ը๕
Alice Boney, New York. ッ渿䴚ɀ漸侸炻䲸䲬
Collection of Earl Morse (1908-1988), until 20th November 1982. ņŢųŭġŎŰųŴŦ炷IJĺıĹĮIJĺĹĹ炸㓞啷炻军ġIJĺĹij⸜IJIJ㚰
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) ijı㖍
Irvin, no. 409.
ἃ伭ΐ㕗ġĩIJĺijıĮijıIJĹĪġ⍲崓ỗ䈡ġĩIJĺIJĸĮijıIJķĪɀ㫸
暚ằ⃟㓞啷炻䶐嘇ĵıĺ
LITERATURE
Hugo Munsterberg, Art of the Far East, New York, 1968, p. 205. ̈و
ʼnŶŨŰġŎŶůŴŵŦųţŦųŨ炻˪łųŵġŰŧġŵũŦġŇŢųġņŢŴŵ˫炻䲸
$ 20,000-30,000
䲬炻IJĺķĹ⸜炻枩ijıĶ

Sensitively carved from a large white jade stone of even tone,
the present brushpot bestows good wishes of longevity and
happiness upon the owner. Fruiting peach trees, cranes and
lingzhi are all symbols of good fortune and long life. Nine
peaches confer the phrase jiutao xianshou (‘nine peaches o% er
longevity’), whilst the crane and lingzhi reinforce this message,
forming the rebuses heshou yannian (‘may the crane and lingzhi
extend your years’), and hexian pantao (‘may the crane o% er you
peaches of longevity’).
Brushpots decorated with auspicious motifs expressed through
vegetal imagery are unusual. A slightly smaller white jade
brushpot carved with ß owering and fruiting trees, but with a
Qianlong mark and of the period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
is illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of
Chinese jades], vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pls 179 and 180; and
another was sold at Christie’s New York, 26th March 2003,
lot 28.

154 SOTHEBY’S