Page 104 - Christie's Important Chinese Works of Art, May 31 to June 1, 2023 Hong Kong

3055 Continued

The present vase follows the archaic bronze prototype, gu, a type of wine
vessel used in the rituals of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. By the Qing
period, archaic forms and motifs found great popularity at court and a
number of jades vessels, such as the present example, were produced to
reflect the fashion of the period.
As a result, archaic bronze gu were very popular as flower vases. This
tradition carried on until the Qing dynasty, to the extent that jade gu were
also often made to be used primarily as flower vases. However, the wide
mouth rim of these vases can be impractical if one is only putting two or
three branches in the vase, as is often the case with flower arrangements
in a scholar’s studio. The gu-form vase depicted in Portrait of Emperor
Qianlong in Ancient Costume (fig. 1), for example, is made with an inner
mouth rim (or fitted with an inner lining) that is much smaller than the
outer rim, so as to keep the flower branches upright.
The jade carver of the present vase resolved this issue by adding an
extra flange in the interior thereby reducing the opening of the vase in
order to hold flowers better. With its relatively small central aperture,
the complexity in carving the vessel would undoubtedly prove a serious
challenge to the craftsman, particularly the polishing of the underside and
interiors of the vase. Despite the technical difficulties, the lapidary had
succeeded in hollowing the vessel evenly and allowing the translucency
and colour of the natural stone to be fully appreciated. Another rare white
jade gu-form vase also carved with an unusual inner flange was sold at
Christie's London, 4 November 2008, lot 13 (fig. 2).

本瓶器形仿青銅酒器觚，為商周時期乘酒之禮器。在清代，仿古青銅之器型
及圖樣在朝廷中極受歡迎，也因此，許多此類樣式的玉器被大量製造以迎
合當時的時尚潮流。

許多玉製觚瓶是以供花為目的，但一般觚瓶口緣寬敞，寥寥一兩枝梅竹的文
房清供，入瓶後便七零八落，如《乾隆古裝圖》中之觚式瓶所示 (圖一)，往往
內瓶要再加裝小瓶或作上內緣，才能讓花枝秀立挺然。
然而，玉匠在此花瓶上別有巧思，將瓶內作上一道寬緣縮小瓶口使鮮花直立
並最佳展現其美貌，解決了這道難題。這樣的工藝大幅增加製作難度，為此
類器型極少見之特徵及設計，恐怕也只有皇帝玉書房的案上才擺得起了。由
於中央口徑小，雕刻容器的複雜性無疑對工匠構成了嚴峻挑戰，尤其是瓶內
部和底部的拋光工程更相對難以執行。儘管如此，工匠將器物內部均勻地鏤
空，讓天然石材的透明度和色澤得以盡收眼底。2008年11月4日，倫敦佳士
得拍出另一件罕見的白玉觚形花瓶，內緣雕飾別具一格，拍品13號（圖二）。