Page 270 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

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PROPERTY FROM THE DE AN TANG COLLECTION 清乾隆 白玉團花紋活環鈕球式蓋奩
A VERY RARE WHITE JADE GLOBULAR 來源：
INCENSE BURNER AND COVER, 香港蘇富比2010年4月7日，編號1870
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
13.6 cm
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th April 2010, lot 1870.

HK$ 800,000-1,200,000
US$ 103,000-154,000

This piece embodies the brilliant creativity of the with kui dragons and xi (double-happiness) characters,
Qing craftsmen, which is seen in the combination of in the De An Tang collection, included in the exhibition A
a contemporary decorative motif with the ingenious Romance with Jade from the De An Tang Collection, Palace
transformation of the archaic bronze dou into a loquat Museum, Beijing, cat. no. 103, where it is written that this
by carving the knop into the leaves of the fruit. The high- type of casket was used during wedding ceremonies to store
quality of the stone is evident in the carver’s treatment personal jewellery or other such accessories (see p. 166).
of the decoration, which combines elegant medallions The harmonious spherical form of the censer is emphasised
of fruit, flowers and bats in low-relief with broad areas of in the circular motifs that appear to drift over the surface.
undecorated, highly-polished surfaces. These roundels containing various specimens of flowers and
A related example, but with additional ringed side handles, fruit are also known on cinnabar lacquer; see a rectangular
in the Alan and Simone Hartman collection, is illustrated in case similarly carved with drifting and overlapping roundels,
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan in the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in
and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 80; another, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum.
but with five bats elaborately carved above the petal-shape Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 52;
knop and five ringed loops, in the Tianjin City Art Museum, is and adorning the sides of two circular boxes, with Qianlong
included in Tianjin shi yishu bowuguan cang yu, Hong Kong, reign mark and of the period, published ibid., pls 5 and 6.
1993, pl. 207; and a third slightly larger vessel, but lacking The loquat is considered auspicious because it embodies
the rings on the knop and decorated with floral and shou the spirit of the four seasons: it buds in autumn, blossoms in
medallions, in the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, winter, sets fruit in spring, and ripens in summer. Thus, the
is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the symbolic meaning of the loquat is accentuated through the
Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 196. extensive use of auspicious symbols to decorate this piece
Compare also a vessel of this spherical form, with ringed ruyi to convey the wish of eternal good luck.
loops on the knop, two ringed dragon handles and decorated

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