Page 77 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

1120 AN EMERALD-GREEN AND PALE GREYISH GREEN JADEITE
CENSER AND COVER
CHINA, 19TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The body raised on three animal-mask and paw feet and carved on the The present censer is carved from a particularly striking jadeite stone
sides with archaistic scrolls, fanked by a pair of dragon-head handles streaked with vibrant emerald-green inclusions. Jadeite was known in
suspending loose rings, the cover similarly carved below the coiled China during the Ming Dynasty but was not generally accepted as a
dragon fnial, the stone of pale greyish green tone with rich emerald- material for carvings until the latter part of the Qianlong reign in the
green inclusions on each side utilized to carve two tiny bats, their heads late eighteenth century. A generic jade material from Burma, jadeite
projecting above the rim is distinct from nephrite in appearance and texture, with a brilliant
7º in. (18.5 cm.) high spectrum of colors, and as such, jadeite was of historical importance,
largely for the development of jade as jewellery in China. During the
$70,000-90,000
later nineteenth century, the glass-like translucency of the rarest
PROVENANCE emerald-green-colored jadeite came to be prized by the ladies of the
Alice Boney, New York. Qing court, led by the formidable Empress Dowager Cixi herself.
Earl Morse (1908-1988) Collection, New York, 1984. From then on, gem-quality jadeite became synonymous with status
The Irving Collection no. 425. and sophistication.
LITERATURE
Compare the present censer to an example with similar emerald-green
Hugo Munsterberg, The Arts of China, Rutland and Tokyo, 1972, pl. 113
inclusions in the stone, sold at Christie’s, Hong Kong, 30 November
and p. 219.
2011, lot 3270. See, also, a lavender and emerald-green jadeite
tripod censer and cover in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated by
Pierre-F. Schneeberger in The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Jades
and Other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, no. B 64.
十九/二十世紀初 翠玉雕瑞獸龍紋三足蓋爐

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