Page 70 - Christie's Fine Jade the LZJ Collection NYC September 21, 2023

rchaistic jade rhytons of this type have their antecedents
in jade rhytons of Han-dynasty date, such as the example
Afrom the Han-dynasty tomb of the King of Nanyue,
illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to
the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 70. fig. 61. That vessel, which
was inspired by a Western Asian form, is in the shape of a horn
that rises from a twisted, bifurcated tail-form handle at the bottom
and is incised around the sides with scroll decoration. By the
Song and Ming dynasties and into the Qing dynasty, this shape
was modified and the sides were carved with bands of decoration
inspired by that found on bronzes and jades of the Eastern Zhou
and Han dynasties.

By the Qing dynasty most jade rhytons appear to be of two types,
those with and those without a handle, but all with an undulating
mouth rim indicating that they were used as pouring vessels. Most
are of a shape related to the present example, and all are decorated
around the sides with archaistic designs, usually arranged with
a wide band of decoration below a narrower band, the two
sometimes separated by a narrow rope-twist border and often with
a narrow band of keyfret around the rim. The decoration on the
present vessel, and the manner in which it is carved in crisp, low
relief, is very similar to that of the white jade archaistic rhyton (7 ¾
in.) in the Irving Collection, sold at Christie’s, Part I, 20 March 2019,
lot 804. However, unlike the present rhyton it has a handle formed
by a horned dragon crawling up to the rim on one of the narrow
sides. Other jade rhytons dated to the Qing dynasty with handles
include the example in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade throughout the ages,
Victoria and Albert Museum, 1975, p. 134, pl. 446, dated to the
Qianlong period, and the white jade example in the Qing Court
Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of
the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 168,
pl. 136.
The archaistic jade rhytons of similar shape without a handle are
exemplified by the large (24.6 cm.) dark green jade example of
mid-Qing date in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Yang
Boda, ed., Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship
of Chinese Jades, vol. 11, Qing Dynasty, 1996, pl. 38, which also
has decoration very similar to that of the present rhyton. See, also,
the smaller (5 cm.) white jade example dated to the Qing dynasty,
in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated op cit., The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III),
p. 167, pl. 135.
(another view)

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