Page 163 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 London

The Property of a Gentleman
紳士藏品
135
A spinach green jade vase, gu
Qianlong/Jiaqing
The vessel rising from a tall splayed foot to a
wide flaring rim, the central section finely and
crisply carved with a border of taotie masks,
above and surmounted by blade lappets, all
divided by six raised vertical notched flanges,
wood stand.
19.5cm (7 2/3in) high (2).
£8,000 - 12,000
HK$100,000 - 150,000
CNY79,000 - 120,000
清乾隆/嘉慶 碧玉雕饕餮紋出戟花觚
Provenance: an English private collection
來源：英國私人收藏
The present vase is inspired in form by
archaic bronze gu vases. Chang Li-tuan
notes in The Refined Taste of the Emperor:
Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial
Jades of the ch’ing Court, National Palace
Museum, Taipei, 1997, p.49 that the
Qianlong Emperor proposed to ‘restore
ancient ways’, suggesting the jade carvers
turn to antiquity for models, enabling to
imbue their designs with simplicity and
honesty, achieving refinement and elegance.
The ‘ancient ways’ referred to the intrinsic
values of sincerity, simplicity, and happy
exuberance.
Compare a related green jade gu vase,
Qianlong, illustrated by S.C.Nott, Chinese
Jade Throughout the Ages, Rutland,
Vermont, 1962, pl.CXVI.

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