Page 82 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

Fig. 6
Reymond, Drawing of Charles Vignier, cover of Les Hommes d’Aujourd’hui,
vol. 6, no. 300, c. 1886
圖六
約1886年 Reymond 繪查爾．維涅肖像 《Les Hommes d’Aujourd’hui》
雜誌第6期300號封面

fig. 66f top right, fig 67h top right, and fig. 79l (fig. 5). At the reserved for the highest echelons of society – is often
time, the rhinoceros was still considered a dangerous wild remarked upon in classical texts.
animal to be subdued, in the same way as tigers, although This plaque masterfully conveys the power, strength and
Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of the Qin (r. 221-210 BC), energy of the animal it depicts and at the same time is so
is already reported to have sent out expeditions to obtain subtly embellished that it is simply a work of beauty. In the
elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn (Jan Chapman, The Art words Wilson chooses (op.cit., p.128) to characterise the
of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p. 26). Cleveland plaques, “there are few Warring States jades, that
Thomas Lawton (Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, approach the drama and quality” of these pieces, a quality
op.cit., p. 149) judged that the “perforations probably were that can be appreciated by the amateur art lover as much as
used to secure the plaques to another surface, since the the specialised jade collector.
pieces are too large to be suspended or included as part of Charles Vignier (1863-1934) was a Swiss-born poet and writer
a larger assemblage”, and the Nanyue plaque, which formed living and working in France, acquaintance of famous painters
part of a pectoral, indeed has only a fracture of the size of such as Matisse and Derain, and an important collector of
the present plaque and its counterparts. Wilson, however, Oriental art, who eventually himself became a specialist on
considers (op.cit. p. 129) “While substantially smaller and the subject. He was instrumental in making East Asian as well
less elaborate, this object [the Nanyue plaque] suggests that as African art more widely known in France, where he also
our jades may also have been part of a sumptuous necklace worked for auctions held at Hôtel Drouot, Paris. An extensive
worn by a nobleman in life as well as death. … Jades of this part of his collection, comprising nearly 500 items, was
size, complexity, and quality were certainly made for only the exhibited at Galeries Levesque & Co in Paris in 1913. It ranged
grandest aristocrats of the time.” from Chinese paintings, over Buddhist stone and gilt-bronze
Although buried together with the deceased, such valuable sculptures, early ceramics and small bronze items to Korean,
pectorals are considered to represent personal belongings, Japanese, Persian, Syrian and African works. Among the six
which the deceased would have worn in his lifetime, rather Chinese jades listed in the catalogue are two items attributed
than tomb goods. In fact, as Rawson mentions (op.cit., to the Zhou period, a cup and an “amoulette en forme de
p. 259), the tinkling sound of the jade pendants of a ruler dragon enroulé”, which may refer to the present plaque.
and other persons of high rank, when walking – jade being

80 SOTHEBY ’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART