Page 20 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

六 6. Scroll weight, zhizhen, in the form of a large lotus pod and flower on branches with curled leaves, the veins in relief, the stone pale

celadon.

荷 4 ½ inches, 11.5 cm long.
花 Qianlong, 1736-1795.
蓮 Carved bamboo lotus-leaf stand.
蓬

鎮 • From the collection of an American doctor, Florida, purchased in New York in the 1930s, and thence by descent.
紙 • A smaller lotus pod and flower of this form, from the collection of The Governor of Manchuria, was included by Marchant

青 in their 85th anniversary exhibition of Chinese Jades from Tang to Qing, 2010, no. 18, p. 35; another is illustrated by Xue Gui
白 Sheng in Zhong Guo Yu Qi Shang Jian, ‘Appreciation and Examination of Chinese Jades’, no. 618, p. 319; a double lotus pod
玉 with insects is illustrated by René-Yvon Lefebvre d’Argencé in Chinese Jade in the Avery Brundage Collection, plate LI, pp. 116/7.

• The lotus, he, or lotus-leaf, heye, is the attribute of the immortal He Xiangu, a female member of the Eight Immortals. Because

乾 of this association the lotus is a Daoist symbol of longevity. The lotus seed-pod, lianfang, is unusual because its seed-bearing
隆 stage comes earlier than with other plants. Therefore, this ornament represents fertility and the speedy arrival of sons and would

have been given as a wedding present.

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