Page 64 - Christies May 9, 2017 Kensington

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

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A WHITE JADE ‘QUAIL AND MILLET’ RUYI
SCEPTRE
19TH CENTURY

The thick, arched shaft is carved with scenes of quail and
tall millet sprays amongst rocks. The ruyi head is carved with
a textured fower basket holding lingzhi and further millet
sprays beside a standing quail and a quail in fight. The stone
is of a creamy white tone.
17 in. (43 cm.) long

£20,000-30,000 $26,000-38,000
€24,000-35,000

PROVENANCE

Property from a European family, acquired by Captain Baron
Haro van Hemert tot Dingshof (1879-1972) in the frst quarter
of the 20th century.

清十九世紀 白玉歲歲平安如意

來源：歐洲私人家族珍藏，由 BARON HARO VAN
HEMERT TOT DINGSHOF上校 (1879-1972) 於二十世紀
初入藏

The carved decoration on the current lot bears auspicious
messages. The Chinese word for quail, an, is a homophone
for the word for peace. The imagery of quail and millet
represents the rebus: suisui ping’an, which may be translated
as ‘May you have peace year after year’. The combination of
the quails and the ruyi sceptre forms the phrase, ping’an ruyi,
which may be translated as ‘peace as one wishes’.

Captain Baron Haro van Hemert tot Dingshof (1879-1972),
who on retirement rose to the rank of Major General, was
in the Dutch Marine Corps stationed in Beijing from 1913
to 1923. He was Commander of the Netherlands Legation
Guards Detachment, responsible for the security of the
Dutch, German, and Austro-Hungarian legations and
enclaves. Captain Baron van Hemert had a great love of art
and was a keen collector of Chinese works of art, a selection
from his collection was sold at Christie’s Amsterdam, 3 May
2005, and of exceptional note was a rare Yuan dynasty blue
and white narrative jar that was sold at Christie’s London, 12
July 2005, lot 88.

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