Page 209 - Sotheby's Sir Quo Wei Lei Collection Oct. 3, 2018

White jade boulders skilfully worked into incense burners of The form of the present piece is based on an archaic bronze
this exceptional size and even luminous tone are extremely vessel known as ding. Compare a white jade tripod incense
rare. The quality of the stone has been accentuated through burner of similar archaistic form, legs decorated with animal
the exquisite carving and lustrous finish of the surface. By masks and finial carved in the form of a coiled dragon, from
restricting the intricate carving to the handles and finial, which the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, published in The
have been skilfully modelled in the round, the carver draws Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum:
attention to the quality of the stone. Jade boulders of this Jadeware III, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 60. Smaller incense
large size originated in the jade-rich territories of Khotan and burners of related form, but carved with two lions on the
Yarkand, areas opened only after the Qing army’s conquest of cover, include two sold in our New York rooms, 18th March
the north-western territories in the 18th century. The Qianlong 2008, lot 32, and 27th/28th April 1967, lot 297; one sold in our
Emperor himself frequently praised the qualities of the jades London rooms, 18th November 1998, lot 926; and another,
from Khotan in poems incised on specific jade vessels. but with one Buddhist lion over the cover and two extra ringed
Continuing in the Song dynasty tradition of carving jade lion mask handles, from the Su Lin An collection sold in these
vessels in the form of archaic bronzes, the craftsmen of the rooms, 31st October 1995, lot 331. Compare also a jadeite
Qing adapted classical forms and combined them with their incense burner of this form from the Jingguantang collection,
own innovative decorative elements. sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 610.