Page 250 - 2019 October Important Chinese Art Sotheby's Hong Kong

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A RARE LAPIS LAZULI BRUSHPOT 清乾隆 青金石雕攜琴訪友圖筆筒
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
來源：
of cylindrical form, the exterior carved in various levels 傳摩納哥私人收藏，1980年代購於香港
of relief with an idyllic riverside landscape, depicting two
figures sheltered within a tiered pavilion amongst rocky
cliffs and trees by a river, the stone of a rich indigo-blue tone
accentuated with streaks of gold flecks and milky-white
inclusions
11.5 cm, 4½ in.
PROVENANCE
A Monaco private collection, acquired in Hong Kong in the
1980s, by repute.
HK$ 800,000-1,000,000
US$ 102,000-128,000

Foreign to China’s own mineral topography, the esteemed There is little doubt that lapis lazuli was highly prized during
lapis lazuli stone was mainly imported from Afghanistan. the Qianlong period, as evidenced by numerous objects
With its brilliant indigo colour pertaining to the heavenly and carvings dyed to imitate the natural stone, such as an
celeste, the stone was often reserved for objects and 18th-century carved stone table screen dyed to mimic lapis
accessories destined for use in ritual ceremonies. It was lazuli, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, published
also a source of the ultramarine pigment in religious mural in Michael Knight et al., Later Chinese Jades, Ming Dynasty
paintings. Scholar’s objects fashioned from this material to Early Twentieth Century from the Asian Art Museum of
are scarce, though a small number of carved mountains and San Francisco, San Francisco, 2007, no. 102. In fact, the
table screens do exist. craftsmen even went to the lengths of inserting small bits of
metal to simulate the pyrite inclusions in the natural mineral.
Symbolic of purity and rarity, lapis lazuli appears to have
been named qingjinshi (blue gold stone) during the Qing Due to its granular yet relatively softer nature, lapis lazuli
dynasty. The aura of mystery that surrounded this stone can hardly be worked with exquisite fine details and equally
may have been due to the virtually inaccessible location delineated outlines as nephrite jades. The deep undercutting
of its principle mines in the remote Badakshan region of and high-relief carving on the present brushpot, decorated
northeast Afghanistan behind the Hindu Kush. According to with an idyllic landscape, epitomises this.
Ming Wilson in ‘The Colour of Stones’, Transactions of the For other examples of lapis lazuli carving created in the
Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 62, 1997-1998, p. 34, there Qianlong era, see a three-piece garniture, illustrated in
are no known records identifying this stone before the Qing Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese
period although beads attributed to the Western Han period jades], vol. 6, Beijing, 1991, pl. 95; and an archaistic censer
have been excavated. Its natural smoothness allowed it to be in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Chinese Jade
polished to a high degree which highlighted the brilliance of Throughout the Ages. Qing Dynasty, vol. 12, Hong Kong,
its blue colour and contrasting natural inclusions. Carvings 1997, pl. 100. Compare also the similar texture of the stone,
fashioned from lapis lazuli are comparatively uncommon and with the same striations of colour and similarly brilliant gold
were reserved for the imperial court.
flecks, on an Imperial lapis lazuli vase inscribed with a poem
by the Qianlong Emperor on the subject of Zou Yigui’s Sanyi
tu, sold at Christie’s London, 21st October 1974, lot 84 and
again in our London rooms, 9th November 2011, lot 129.

248 SOTHEBY ’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART