Page 58 - Sotheby's Speelman Collection Oct. 3, 2018

Foreign to China’s own mineral topography, the esteemed in Michael Knight et al., Later Chinese Jades, Ming Dynasty
lapis lazuli stone was mainly imported from Afghanistan. With to Early Twentieth Century from the Asian Art Museum of
its brilliant indigo colour pertaining to the heavenly celeste, San Francisco, San Francisco, 2007, no. 102. In fact, the
the stone was often reserved for objects and accessories craftsmen even went to the lengths of inserting small bits of
destined for use in ritual ceremonies. It was also a source of metal to simulate the pyrite inclusions in the natural mineral.
the ultramarine pigment in religious mural paintings. Scholar’s Due to its granular yet relatively softer nature, lapis lazuli
objects fashioned from this material are scarce, though a can hardly be worked with exquisite fine details and equally
small number of carved mountains and table screens does delineated outlines as nephrite jades. The deep undercutting
exist.
and high-relief carving on the present pair of screens are
There is little doubt that lapis lazuli was highly prized during reminiscent of 18th century carving. Compare a Qianlong-
the Qianlong period, as evidenced by numerous objects period circular white jade screen, worked on its reverse with
and carvings dyed to imitate the natural stone, such as an similarly rendered overhanging lanceolate shrubs and gnarled
18th-century carved stone table screen dyed to mimic lapis knobbly trees with layered rinds, illustrated in the Yamanaka
lazuli, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, published catalogue of Collection of Chinese and Other Far Eastern Art