Page 171 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

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A rare pale green jade ruyi sceptre
17th century
Crisply carved with a bat perching on the ruyi
head enclosing two cranes in flight and each
gripping a spray of lingzhi fungus in its beak, the the First Rank’ (和碩親王) and appointed ‘Great
handle with a delicately starred deer poised on
rockwork under a tall leafy pine tree, the sides
with key-fret and the underside incised with a bat
in flight over rockwork, stand with label.
36.2cm (14 1/8in) long (2).
£3,000 - 5,000
HK$35,000 - 59,000 CNY28,000 - 47,000
十七世紀 青玉雕鹿鶴同春紋如意
Provenance: according to an old label on the
stand, this ruyi sceptre was once the property of
‘Prince Yu of Pekin’
An English private collection
來源：根據底座上的陳舊標籤，此如意曾是豫
親王(‘Prince Yu of Pekin’)的藏品
英國私人收藏
The old label noting that the present lot was
the property of Prince Yu of Pekin, may refer to
Dodo (1614-1649), Prince Yu of the First Rank,
a Manchu prince and military general during the
early Qing Dynasty.
In 1644 Dodo entered China proper after the
Ming general Wu Sangui opened Shanhai Pass
for the Qing armies. They defeated forces under
Li Zicheng at Shanhai Pass and occupied Beijing, brother, whom the emperor perceived to have
after which Dodo was reinstated as a ‘Prince of
General Who Pacifies the Nation’ (定國大將
軍). Together with Kong Youde (孔有德) and
Geng Zhongming (耿仲明), Dodo led an army
of 200,000, comprising both Manchu and Han
Chinese soldiers, to attack the remnants of Li
Zicheng’s army, defeating and driving the enemy
from Henan to Shaanxi. In 1645 Dodo conquered
Tong Pass and Xi’an, and then attacked the
Southern Ming Dynasty (remnants of the fallen
Ming Dynasty), capturing Yangzhou, crossing
the Yangtze River and occupying Nanjing and
capturing its ruler, the Hongguang Emperor.
Following his return to Beijing, he received the in the Palace Museum: Jade 8: Qing Dynasty,
title of ‘Prince Deyu of the First Rank’ (和碩德
豫親王). In 1646 Dodo was appointed ‘Great
General Who Spreads Might’ (揚威大將軍)
and emerged victorious from suppressing a
rebellion by the Sonid Mongols. A year later he
was conferred the title of ‘Uncle Who Assists in
Governance and Prince Deyu of the First Rank’
(輔政叔 和碩德豫親王).
Dodo died of illness in 1649 at the age of 36.
Label on stand
In 1652 the Shunzhi Emperor posthumously
demoted Dodo to the status of a ‘Prince of the
Second Rank’ for his affiliation with Dorgon, his
had the intention of usurping the throne. In 1671
during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, Dodo
was granted a posthumous name ‘Tong’ (通), so
his title became ‘Prince Yutong of the Second
Rank’ (多羅豫通郡王). In the first lunar month
of 1778, the Qianlong Emperor posthumously
restored Dodo to the status of a ‘Prince of the
First Rank’ and created a place for Dodo in the
Qing ancestral temple. Seven months later, a
shrine was built for Dodo in the Mukden Palace
Compare a related pale green jade ruyi sceptre
also carved with a spotted deer on the shaft and
illustrated in the Compendium of Collections
Beijing, 2011, no.69.
Fine Chinese Art | 167