Page 119 - Sotheby's Sir Quo Wei Lei Collection Oct. 3, 2018

The jade boulder is elaborately carved to depict 玉山子琢奇山峰頂，高峻崢嶸，仙人高士，怡然
a hermit scene in the rugged mountains, home 悠遊。玉匠隨形巧作，工藝超卓，石徑、瀑布、
to immortals and reclusive scholars. These 高松、繁葉皆巧緻傳神。高聳巨岩間，仙人緩步
mountains, boldly and irregularly carved with 下山之景，意謂入世從仕，乃乾隆時期盛行題
rocky paths, waterfall, pine trees and vegetation, 材。山林間蒼鬱茵茵，意趣空靈，使觀者宛似身
are often inhabited by tiny figures, exemplifying 臨其境，跳脫俗世生活之繁縟束縛。
the concept of ‘landscape in miniature.’ Compact
and upright domed boulders depicting scholars 山子浮雕富於層次，構圖繁密入微，山水靈秀生
or immortals ascending a path were popular
during the Qianlong period, as they symbolised 動，乃上乘佳作。巧匠依玉材天然紋理雕琢，化
the ascending career of the scholar-literati within 瑕為瑜，紋路游走峭隙岩間，相得益彰。
the civil service. They also serve as vehicles for
the scholar and connoisseur to be transported to 相類之帶黃褐色皮玉山子，可參考台北故宮藏
their imaginary, distant realms. 品，展於《宮廷之雅：清代仿古及畫意玉器特
展》，台北，1997年，編號47。英國鐵路養
Boulder mountains testify the jade carvers’
tremendous skills and reflect their reverence for 老基金會藏一件類同尺寸、題材玉山子，1989
the natural qualities of the stone. They were able 年5月16日售於香港蘇富比，編號97。另一例
to carve elaborate and lively tableaus within the 山子綴壽星與童子，售於同年11月16日香港蘇
confines of the boulder, keeping the silhouette 富比，編號601。清宮舊藏乾隆青玉松鶴老人
intact while artistically manipulating the natural 山子，琢山間樓閣，仙人順長階而下，高士佇
‘imperfections’ of the stone to enhance the 於階底迎之，現藏北京故宮博物院，錄於《故
design. 宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．玉器（下）》，香
Compare a jade boulder with a similar use of 港，1995年，編號73。
the russet skin, in the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition The
Refined Taste of the Emperor, Taipei, 1997,
cat. no. 47. A jade boulder of similar size with
immortals in a mountainscape from the British
Rail Pension Fund was sold in these rooms,
16th May 1989, lot 97, another showing Shoulao
travelling with an acolyte also in these rooms,
16th November 1989, lot 601. A related celadon
jade boulder, depicting an immortal ascending
the long staircases from his pavilion to a scholar
await at the bottom of the mountain, in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum: Jadeware III, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 73.