Page 203 - Bonhams May 12 16 London

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 士紳藏品

178 The present lot is exceptional for the even quality of the white stone
A VERY FINE WHITE JADE OVAL PLAQUE and its refined decoration and exemplifies the highest level of jade
Inscribed Zigang, 18th century craftsmanship achieved in the 18th century under the auspices of the
Finely carved in low relief on one side with a lady in a fenced garden Qianlong emperor. The most sought-after jade quality is known as
playing the flute, on rockwork a phoenix raptly listens, the reverse with ‘mutton fat’ white jade, or yangzhi baiyu. This rare stone was highly
a low-relief inscription in clerical script and a signature in cursive script sought after for its purity and snow-white translucency.
terminating in a seal mark Zigang, the smoothly polished stone of even
white tone, wood stand. Little is known regarding Lu Zigang in contrast with his legendary
5.8cm (2 1/2in) long (2). reputation as the finest Suzhou jade carver. Craig Clunas notes
that Lu’s name appeared in the 1642 edition of the Gazetteer of
£4,000 - 6,000 CNY37,000 - 55,000 Taicang Subprefecture, 太倉州志 Taicangzhou Zhi, recording him as
HK$44,000 - 66,000 a native of this district, ‘fifty years ago there was in this prefecture a
certain Lu Zigang, whose skill at carving [jade] with the knife remains
十八世紀 白玉美人吹蕭圖詩文牌 unsurpassed to the present. Jade hairpins by him sell for fifty or sixty
「子岡」篆書刻款 ounces of silver each. The skill was not handed on at Zigang’s death’;
see C.Clunas, Superfluous Things. Material Culture and Social Status
Provenance: an English private collection, assembled in Hong Kong in Early Modern China, Honolulu, 1991, p.64.
from 1967-1989, and thence by descent
Compare a related white jade oval pendant, late 18th/early 19th
來源： century, illustrated in J.C.Y.Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing,
英國私人收藏，於1967至1989年期間蒐於香港，並由後人保存迄今 New York, 1980, pl.217. Another related white jade plaque, of similar
oval shape and inscribed Zigang, from the Sze Yuan Tang collection,
The inscription reads: was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5 April 2016, lot 51.

‘非關采鳳輕飛出，無奈蕭聲一片情. 子岡戲筆’
鈐印：子岡
Which may be translated as:

‘No need to lock up the vibrant phoenix gently flying away;
It cannot help but feel affection for the sound of the flute.’
Zigang playing with the brush.’
Seal: Zigang.

178 (two views)