Page 195 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

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A rare very pale green jade archaistic four-legged vessel and cover
18th century
Carved on the exterior with a decorative band of archaistic dragons with their bodies interlaced
as if to form waves, the heads rising above the writhing bodies at regular intervals, all above a
further band of pendent ruyi-head lappets, the central lappet containing a stylised ji character, the
shorter sides both with a phoenix-head handle, the cover with a medallion carved with a coiling
dragon over each corner and surmounted by a central dragon finial, wood stand, box.
14cm (5½in) high (4).
£35,000 - 50,000
HK$410,000 - 590,000 CNY330,000 - 470,000

十八世紀 青玉雕仿古龍紋雙鳳耳四足蓋爐 Invoice

Provenance: The House of Jade, New York,
purchased in October 1962
A Canadian private collection

Exhibited: Royal Ontario Museum, Prized
Possessions from Private Homes: An Exhibition,
Canada, 8 October - 8 December 1968,
no.1170

來源:1962年10月購於紐約The House of Jade
加拿大私人收藏

展覽:1968年10月8日至12月8日於皇家安大略
博物館Prized Possessions from Private Homes:
An Exhibition展出，圖錄編號1170

The form of this type of vessel, with four
cylindrical legs supporting a square body, whilst
familiar from Qing Dynasty pieces, was highly
unusual in earliest times. Like many Chinese
jade forms, it derives from the archaic bronze
tradition, but only a few examples of this form
in archaic bronze are published. One such
piece is illustrated by W.Tao, Chinese Bronzes
from the Meiyintang Collection, London,
2009, no.127, where the author notes that
the unusual form indicates a different function
from other ritual food vessels, and speculates
that it may have served as a pigment container.
It is interesting to note that this type of vessel
was also made from jade during the archaic
periods of the late Shang to early Western
Zhou: see an article by Prof. Ch’eng Te-k’un,
The T’u-lu Colour-Container of the Shang-Chou
Period, in the Bulletin of the Museum of Far
Eastern Antiquities, 1965, vol.37, pp.239-50.

A related four-legged vessel but with shorter
legs and animal-head ring handles from the
Qing Court Collection shows the same design
of dragons rising above waves and is illustrated
in the The Complete Collection of Treasures of
the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong,
1995, no.156. Another example but in spinach
jade is illustrated by S.C.Nott, Chinese Jade
Throughout the Ages, Japan, 1962, pl.CXIII.

Fine Chinese Art | 191