Page 162 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC

85 㶭ġ 䘥 AN INSCRIBED WHITE JADE
İġ
䌱
㮹 晽 HINGED PLAYTHING
⚳ġġġ 暚 QING DYNASTY / REPUBLIC PERIOD
沛
䲳 comprising two short square-section pillars connected by a 柴嬀ġĻ
暁 central triangular join at the top, each with a rounded hinged 廱㉀ㆸ䌱庠ġ⯽㓞屯䞕攟
䫺 capital on one end and hollowed from the other end, the
⺷ capitals Þ tted with a hexagonal plug between and notched at ⸽枰庫⯢⮠ġ〘⎰䏊䏛䐗
剙 the pinnacle, when extended the pillars forming a single column 春屐恋傥挍ġ墜⃫㛒嵛㕡
㍺ revealing the inscription, the notches forming a rectangular 慷㛸姕䴄䞑ġ䰚ὲ㷜䃉忹ġḦ昮⽉柴
aperture, the other sides carved in low relief with archaistic
bird motifs, the triangular join carved with taotie, the stone ⌘㔯ġĻġ
a translucent white dappled with icy-white inclusions, with a
rectangular white jade aperture insert to hold the extension, ⎌楁ġ⣒䑆
wood stand (3) Ը๕
ňŦŰųŨŦġťŦġŎŦůŢŴŤŦġĩIJĹĺıĮIJĺķĸĪġ㓞啷炻䶐嘇ĴĺIJġ
Length (open) 6½ in., 16.5 cm œŰŨŦųġŌŦŷŦųůŦ炻ōŵťį炻ΐ㔎炻IJĺĺĸ⸜ķ㚰Ĺ㖍
ἃ伭ΐ㕗ġĩIJĺijıĮijıIJĹĪġ⍲崓ỗ䈡ġĩIJĺIJĸĮijıIJķĪɀ
㫸暚ằ⃟㓞啷炻䶐嘇ĵĸĵ
PROVENANCE
࢝ᚎ
Collection of George de Menasce (1890-1967), no. 391.
Roger Keverne, Ltd., London, 8th June 1997. ˪ńũŪůŦŴŦġŘŰųŬŴġŰŧġłųŵĭġŕųŢťŪŵŪŰůġŰŧġńŰŭŭŦŤŵŪůŨ˫
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) 炻œŰŨŦųġŌŦŷŦųůŦ⍲ŎŪŤũŢŦŭňŪŭŭŪůŨũŢŮ炻ΐ
Irving, no. 474.
㔎炻IJĺĺĸ⸜炻䶐嘇ķķ
EXHIBITED
Chinese Works of Art, Tradition of Collecting, Roger Keverne and
Michael Gillingham, London, 1997, cat. no. 66.
$ 50,000-70,000

This piece is inscribed with a poem composed by the Qianlong Confucian literature, originally composed between the late
Emperor, which can be translated as follows (after Roger Warring States period (475-221 BC) and the Eastern Han
Keverne and Michael Gillingham, Traditions of Collecting, dynasty (AD 25-220), the Liji advocates that ‘when the sovereign
London, 1997, p. 49): behaves to his aged, as the aged should be behaved to, the
people become Þ lial; when the sovereign behaves to his elders,
When folded back the hinges form the character wang (king).
as the elders should be behaved to, the people learn brotherly
When opened out it serves as a ruler.
submission; when the sovereign treats compassionately the
The base may be used to compare lengths and the precisely
young and helpless, the people do the same. Thus the ruler
Þ tting workmanship is exquisite.
has a principle with which, as with a measuring square, he
How could Yang Huo have been able to be so oppressive [had he
may regulate his conduct’. This piece was thus conceived as a
been thus guided]?
measuring instrument that could also provide moral guidance
Pei Yuan would not have lived up to this measure.
to a benevolent ruler by virtue of its material and association to
To measure one’s materials is to institute the Golden Rule,
China’s past. The inscribed poem, composed by the Qianlong
To select the superior is no mean thing.
Emperor, laments the misdemeanors of previous rulers,
Qianlong Imperially Inscribed.
including Yang Huo, a rebellious nobleman of the State of Lu
An erudite scholar and avid collector, the Qianlong Emperor
in the late 6th century BC, who was notorious for murder,
passionately advocated the advancement of civilization
manipulation and thievery.
through the study of history and antiquities, a concept eagerly
Jade ornaments of this type, with its movable parts, are
manifested in the works of art that he commissioned. According
exceedingly complicated to design and carve, and accordingly
to imperial records, the Emperor proposed to ‘restore ancient
extremely rare, although another very similar example, carved
ways’, and urged craftsmen in the imperial workshops to follow
from spinach-green jade, also from the collection of Florence
the styles and speciÞ cations recorded in ancient catalogues. The
and Herbert Irving and later in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
inspiration for this piece probably derives from the line drawing
New York, is o% ered in this sale, lot 86. Another object of this
of a Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) bronze Þ tting recorded in
form and carved from white jade, also with a Qianlong fanggu
the Xiqing gujian [Catalogue of Xiqing antiquities], which was
(‘in imitation of antiquity’) mark, in the Tianjin Museum, is
compiled in the mid-18th century (see Ming Wilson, Chinese
included in Bai Wenyuan ed., Tianjin Bowuguan cangyu [Jade
Jades, London, 2004, pp. 106-107, pl. 105).
collection of the Tianjin Museum], Beijing, 2012, pl. 177; another
While the original function of the metal prototype was unknown lacking the poem, in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated
to the Qianlong Emperor, and the piece recorded in the Xiqing in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum.
gujian is merely described as a ‘Han dynasty ornament’, in the Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 54; a third was sold at
poem the Emperor infers that he believed it to be a ‘measuring
Bonhams London, 15th May 2014, lot 182; and a spinach-
square’, like those mentioned in the Daxue [The Great Learning] green example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is
chapter of the Li ji [Book of Rites]. One of the Þ ve classics in illustrated in Ming Wilson, op. cit., pl. 104.
160 SOTHEBY’S