Page 66 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

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L A C Q U E R • J A D E • B R O N Z E • I N K T H E R V I N G C O L L E C T I O N 髹金飾玉 - 歐雲伉儷珍藏

~1115 A SMALL WHITE JADE RECTANGULAR TABLE SCREEN
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Carved on both sides with scholars and attendants amidst trees in a The compact size of the present screen would have made it ideal for the
mountainous retreat, with an attendant carrying a qin approaching two scholar’s table, and it is perhaps due to this particular function that screens
scholars on one side and a scholar and an attendant on the reverse, with of this type often depict scenes of immortals, scholars, or the refned
a pavilion at the top of each scene, the stone of even, pale greenish white pleasures of the literati class. The tranquil subject matter of scholars in a
tone with a few minor, mottled snowy inclusions mountainous landscape would have provided stimulus for the scholar upon
whose table it was placed. It has been suggested that table screens may
7Ω in. (19 cm.) high, hongmu stand
have drawn inspiration from the cut and polished plaques of fgured white
$80,000-120,000
marble which were traditionally framed and hung in a scholar’s studio.
PROVENANCE
Compare the scholarly subject matter depicted on two imperially inscribed
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1983.
white jade table screens dated to the Qing dynasty, illustrated in The Refned
The Irving Collection no. 417.
Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the
Ch’ing Court, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1997, pp. 198-99, no. 68, and
pp. 200-201, no. 69. See, also, a white jade table screen of slightly smaller
size, dated to the Qianlong period (1736-1795), carved with a similar scene of
scholars and their attendant carrying a qin amidst pine trees and inscribed
with a poem describing the scene, sold at Christie’s, London, 10 November
2015, lot 135.
清十八世紀 白玉高士訪友圖插屏

(alternate view)

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