Page 62 - Bonhams Hong K June 2016

Images courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei The agate brushwasher belongs to an exceptionally rare group
台北國立故宮博物院藏 of Imperial vessels carved from agate, made in the Imperial Jade
Workshop, yuzuo, within the Imperial Palace Works, the Zaobanchu,
An agate vessel, Tang dynasty; image courtesy of during the Yongzheng reign and bearing the Imperial mark.
the Shaanxi History Museum It encapsulates the Yongzheng emperor's interest in antiquity as
唐 瑪瑙羽觴；陝西省博物館藏 well as in objects made for the scholar's desk and demonstrates
the superb craftsmanship achieved by the Imperial Workshops.

The Yongzheng emperor took personal interest in the artistic production
during his period including both Imperial porcelain and works of art.
Records in the archives of the Imperial Jade Workshops, yuzuo, dated
between 1724 and 1729, note that the emperor ordered for agate
brushwashers and bowls to be kept undecorated in order to show the
original pattern of the agate stone; pieces with 'intricate' designs or
of unsatisfactory quality were rejected and sent back to the Imperial
Palace Workshops. The Imperial collections in Taipei and Beijing hold
a number of extant agate vessels, bearing the Yongzheng mark and
of the period, which similarly to the present lot and according to the
Yongzheng emperor's instructions, were kept plain. These include from
the National Palace Museum, Taipei, bowls of various forms, a water
dropper, and a cup on a similarly shaped oval stand; see Feng Mingzhu,
Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei,
2009, pp.235-245; and from the Palace Museum, Beijing, an agate cup
and dish; see Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji, Hebei, 2005, pp.553
and 550, nos.10 and 62.

When comparing the number of agate vessels and jade carvings
bearing the Yongzheng and Qianlong reign marks, it is evident that
the Yongzheng emperor greatly admired the natural virtues of the
agate stone. The Qianlong period saw greater output of jade carvings,
although there was continuity of agate carvings in the Imperial
Workshops as demonstrated in an agate bowl-stand, Qianlong
mark and period, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which
according to the Wells bequest records came 'from the Summer Palace
at Pekin', referring to the Yuanmingyuan; see M.Wilson, Chinese Jades,
London, 2004, pp.96-97, pl.95 (museum no.1551A-1882).

The oval rounded shape of the present lot is particularly rare and
possibly derives from the form of the archaic wine vessel known as
a yushang, which first appeared during the Warring States period
(475–221 BC). See also an agate vessel of similar form excavated from
a tomb dated to the Tang dynasty in the Eastern suburb of Xi'an, in
the Shaanxi History Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua
dacidian: jinyinyushi juan, Hong Kong, 1996, p.62, no.190.

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