Page 152 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

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A WHITE JADE ‘LANDSCAPE’ TABLE SCREEN the present table screen is carved from a lustrous white
QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY stone, perfectly suited for illumination by natural light. Free
from dark occlusions, the white jade allows the suns rays
of rectangular form arched at the top, finely and delicately to filter through the screen, bringing forth the features
carved with a mountainous scene of craggy peaks and of the carved landscapes and the varying degrees of the
ravines, a waterfall cascading down the side of a jagged relief. the backlit landscapes of the table screen provided
mountain pooling at the base, the curved lines of rockwork beauty as well as images of tranquil environs away from
and waves mirroring the sway of trunks and branches of two the responsibilities of court service, to the scholar-official
gnarled trees, the top centered with a sun high in the sky, who would have placed this in his studio and gazed upon
all framed by rolling clouds at the top, the reverse similarly it throughout the day. this particular screen also offers
worked with a night scene detailing a waterfall flowing down the benefit of dual scenes, depending on which side of the
a cliff amidst foliate vines, a crescent moon in the distance, screen is viewed.
the stone an even celadon-white, wood stand (2) the arced upper edge of the present screen is a feature
height 9½ in., 24.4 cm
that appears on a number of jade screens of the 18th and
PROVENANCE 19th centuries. these screens are almost always carved of
pale jade and bear images of landscapes on their surfaces.
Collection of samuel. m (1830-1914) and matilda (1837-1912) Compare, for instance, a white jade table screen carved
nickerson. with a pair of horses by a river at the foot of a mountain,
Gifted to the art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, in 1900 (acc. in the collection of the national palace museum, taipei,
no. 1900.742).
exhibited and published in The Refined Taste of the Emperor:
EXHIBITED Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing
Court, national palace museum, taipei, 1997, cat. no. 70.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Nickerson: presented to additional examples include a screen with a landscape
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1900, cat. no. 11.
scene very similar to the present version, formerly sold by
C. t. Loo & Co., and later sold at parke Bernet, 12th January,
1973, lot 111; a Qianlong period example carved with three
sages traversing a mountainous landscape, offered in our
hong Kong rooms, 11th april 2008, lot 2814; a pair sold at
Christie’s London, 11th may 2010, lot 145; an immortality-
themed screen with cranes, lingzhi, and pines, sold at
Christie’s paris, 13th June 2013, lot 164; and one carved
with boys bathing an elephant in a river, sold in these rooms,
17th-18th march 2015, lot 359.

$ 60,000-80,000
清十八 / 十九世紀 白玉雕松山雲瀑圖插屏
來源
Samuel M. (1830-1914) 及 Matilda (1837-1912) Nickerson
伉儷收藏
1900年贈予芝加哥藝術博物館，芝加哥，館藏編號
1900.742
展覽
《Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Nickerson:
presented to The Art Institute of Chicago》，芝加
哥，1900年，編號11

150 SOTHEBY’S Important ChInese art