Page 181 - Sotheby's Hong Kong Important Chinese Works of Art, Oct. 9, 2022

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THE VICTOR SHAW COLLECTION OF CHINESE JADES 清乾隆 白玉鏤雕芭蕉仕女圖山子
A RARE RETICULATED WHITE AND RUSSET
JADE 'GARDEN AND LADY' BOULDER,
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
h. 10.8 cm, w. 9.8 cm

HK$ 700,000-900,000
US$ 89,500-115,000
This jade garden and lady group is exceptional for its superb
technical skill with naturalistic execution to details, which
is evident in the use of a white jade boulder that has been
masterfully fashioned into an object in a three-dimensional
architectural form. The outstanding skill of the imperial jade
lapidary is exemplified by the perfectly carved and carefully
composed scene and the delicately reticulated leaves,
which is enhanced by the translucent and lustrous tone of
the jade stone. Every detail of the composition has been
well executed: from the animated modelling of the figures
accompanied by a rabbit to the naturalistic rendering of
the rockwork and gnarled trees – all cleverly set within an
openwork garden scene.
See a related white and russet jade 'pavilion and lady'
boulder in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in
Zhongguo yuqi quanji, Shijiazhuang, 1991, vol. 6, no. 277
(fig. 1). The Palace Museum example, similarly depicted with
a perfectly circular opened section and bearing a similar
treatment of the rockwork and figure, was likely worked by
the same craftsman as the present piece. Further inscribed
with an imperial poem by the Qianlong Emperor indicating
that it was worked from a jade boulder from which a major
part of the material was taken for a jade bowl, it testifies to
the extent to which white jade stone of superb quality was
treasured in the imperial court and by the Qianlong Emperor
himself, so much so that white jade boulders were used in
their entirety to minimise waste.
Compare also a white jade brush rest in the shape of a
bridge, which was carved by using a piece of material
left from a larger boulder, illustrated in Compendium of
Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 9: Qing Dynasty,
Beijing, 2011, no.71.

Other view

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