Page 62 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC

16 ⋩ 曺 A GREEN JADE ‘DRAGON’
ᶫġ
䌱
İġ 晽 MOONFLASK AND COVER
⋩ 呤 17TH / 18TH CENTURY
ℓ 漵
ᶾ 㔁 the ß attened circular body rising from a rectangular foot to
䲨ġġġ ⫸ an oval rim, the shoulder set with a pair of archaistic kuilong
⚾ handles, the body carved in high relief with a dragon and chilong
味 contesting a ‘Flaming Pearl’ amidst bold swirling clouds, all
䒞 against a smooth ground, the domed cover surmounted by an
oblong knob, the green stone with occasional orange-russet
patches and faint icy striations (2)

Height 7 in., 18 cm

PROVENANCE Ը๕
Spink & Son, London, 18th December 1980. ŔűŪůŬġħġŔŰů炻ΐ㔎炻IJĺĹı⸜IJij㚰IJĹ㖍
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) ἃ伭ΐ㕗ġĩIJĺijıĮijıIJĹĪġ⍲崓ỗ䈡ġĩIJĺIJĸĮijıIJķĪɀ
Irving, no. 339.
㫸暚ằ⃟㓞啷炻䶐嘇ĴĴĺ
Contrasting dramatically with the smooth unadorned surface of
the vase, the high relief-carved dragon and chilong coil around
the vessel as if enveloping it in cloud wisps. This sense of
movement is further expressed in the dragon’s trailing whiskers
and the ß ick of the chilong’s tail. With the smaller chilong
clambering towards the larger dragon, the present vase conveys
the proverb canglong jiaozi (‘the old dragon teaches his son’).
A strikingly similar baluster-form celadon jade vase and cover
carved in high relief and openwork with dragons pursuing a
‘Flaming Pearl’ in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum,
Toronto, is published in Chen Shen and Gu Fang, Haiwai
bowuguan cang yuqi tuji zhi yi: Jianada Huangjia Andalüe
bowuguan cang Zhongguo gudai yuqi / Chinese Jade Collections
from Museums Outside China, No. 1: Ancient Chinese Jades from
the Royal Ontario Museum, Beijing, 2016, pl. 271.
Compare also a jade moonß ask vase, with clambering chilong
and low-relief ß oral medallions, sold at Christie’s New York, 18th
September 1997, lot 240; a plain moonß ask vase with abstract
dragon-fret handles sold in these rooms, 17th October 1974,
lot 63. For pear-shaped examples, see one sold at Christie’s
London, 13th May 2016, lot 715 and another in our Hong Kong
rooms, 29th November 2018, lot 451. See also a white jade vase
with similar subject matter but inscribed with a poem, sold at
Christie’s New York, 17 March 2017, lot 1090.
$ 20,000-30,000

60 SOTHEBY’S