Page 179 - Christie's Leisurely Life May 29, 2019 Hong Kong

THE PROPERTY OF AN ASIAN COLLECTOR
3027
A FINELY CARVED AND VERY RARE WHITE JADE ᪺̗㡳 Ⅾἕ㲌㨬㹪㙧、
ARCHAISTIC EWER
ൣ⿫
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
இ⛁᫓टࢷ⁒㱦卿झ࢈卿Ƕ᳖⩉㪿㫀ᅨॶჺጻᘘ⻦ཿǷ卿
In imitation of an archaistic bronze gong, the ewer is finely carved
ჺ ᝲ ᚚ⯍ ჺ ᝲ ᚚ
with stylised phoenix panels on both sides, standing on a splayed
foot with an incised key-fret band, and surmounted with a gently ⮐㙽
flared neck decorated with archaistic phoenix and scrollwork, and Ƕ᳖⩉㪿㫀ᅨॶჺጻᘘ⻦ཿ ě Ⅷ⅊Ƿ卿झ࢈卿 ჺ卿
a flaming pearl in high relief on one side, carved below the lipped
㮰
rim with a phoenix head suspending a loose ring, the scroll handle
is well carved in the round with a playful chilong, its sinuous body The Qianlong emperor’s great love of jade combined with his
coiled through the handle, the translucent stone is of an attractive passion for antiques resulted in his commissioning significant
milky-white tone with small areas of amber inclusions. numbers of archaistic jade items for his court. The vessel
7 º in. (18.4 cm.) high, box from which the present lot takes inspiration is the archaic
bronze gong. Archaic bronze examples would normally have
HK$4,500,000-5,500,000 US$580,000-700,000 been accompanied by a cover in zoomorphic form, such as an
example illustrated in the woodblock printed catalogue Xiqing
EXHIBITED Gujian, 'Inspection of Antiques' (fig. 1). However, this exquisite
National Museum of History, Taipei, Ching Wan Society Twentieth white jade version was evidently produced without a cover. It
Anniversary Exhibition, 20 October – 9 December 2012 is the ultimate testament of a consummate master craftsman
to have been able to conceive and combine elegant form with
LITERATURE confident subtly defined motifs, working the pure white raw
Ching Wan Society Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: Objects of vertu,
material to its best and fullest advantage.
Taipei, 2012, pp. 48-49
The present ewer is especially distinguished by the size and
quality of its material. The stone displays attributes of the
finest ‘mutton-fat’ jades - white, even, unctuous and devoid of
flaws. The source of the material was Xinjiang, most likely in
the 1750s after the capture of this area by the Qing Empire,
which brought a steady flow of Khotan jades to the Qing court.
Extremely few other examples of this rare form, impressive
size, and outstanding quality are known, most of which are
preserved in the Qing court collection. A similar white jade
gong of slightly smaller but wider proportion (16.6 cm. high,
18 cm. wide) is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in
Zhongguo yuqi quanjj – 6 – Qing, Shijiazhuang, 1991, no. 37
(fig. 2), which is also made without a cover. For white jade
gong with covers, compare to two examples in the National
Palace Museum, Taipei, one of which is closely modelled after
the bronze original in form and decoration (14.4 cm. high, 16.6
cm. wide), the other similar in style to the present ewer but of
smaller size and a more flattened form, see The Refined Taste
of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades
of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 1997, nos. 13 and 20, respectively.
For other Qianlong white jade gong that have appeared on
auctions, compare to one sold at Christie’s London, 13 May
2008, lot 65 (19.8 cm. high), which has a protruding lip at
one end of the mouth in the form of a large beast head to
accommodate the cover; and another carved in the round
with a phoenix supporting the upright hollow vessel, sold at
Bonham’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2018, lot 27 (18.8 cm. high).

rubbings of details
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