Page 31 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Basin one-half inches in height and over fifty inches them was also carved in a jade book, pro-
in length. Its exterior is carved with dragons duced in I745, preserved in the Chester Beatty
dated 1774
Qing dynasty, and other monsters, some aquatic and some Library, Dublin.
Nephrite aerial, on a background swirling waters. This A poem inscribed on the Metropolitan's
of
L. 20 in. (5o.8 cm) basin is believed to have been commissioned basin is dated to the early spring of 1774. It is
R.
Gift ofHeber Bishop, 1902 in I265 by Khubilai Khan, who had it placed in a recondite work and difficult to understand or
it
In
02.18.689 the Guanghan Palace on the Hill of Myriad translate precisely. general explains that a
Years, located on an island in Beihai Lake, large piece of jade was brought from Khotan
ive powerful dragons chase two flaming Beijing. It is generally believed that the Du as tribute and goes on to define the decoration,
pearls on the surface of this impressive Mountain Wine Sea was removed from the including references to clouds suspended in a
cushion-shaped basin. The dragons, which fly palace during the massive destruction that blue sky and dragons rising from the mist. The
in a turbulent cloud-filled sky, are five-clawed, marked the transition from the Yuan to the poem extols the beauty of the carving and
showing it was made for imperial use. The Ming dynasty. compares the creation of either this basin or of
basin is believed to have been in the Summer About 1745 the Du Mountain Wine Sea was Du Mountain Wine Sea, or both, to several high-
Palace, Beijing, until i86o and then sold to a rediscovered by the Qianlong emperor, who lights in Chinese art and history, such as the
British gentleman, who sold it to Heber R. found priests using it to serve vegetables in reign of the mythical Emperor Yao; the paint-
Bishop. It was bequeathed to the Museum in the Chen Wu Miao, a Daoist temple dedicated ings of the artist Zhang Sengyou (ca. 470-550),
I902 as part of the Bishop Collection. to Xuan Wu, the guardian of the Northern who was noted for his Buddhist figures and
The vessel's shape and a poem by the Quarter. The emperor had a pavilion erected dragons; and the vibrant prose of Han Yu
Qianlong emperor carved on the interior indi- to display his treasure in the Round Fort near (768-824).
cate that it was inspired by the Du Mountain Beihai Park. He was so entranced by this The two seals carved into the Metropolitan's
Wine Sea, a large wine container of Dushan work that he wrote three poems about the Du basin read: "Qianlong yu bi" (by the brush of
jade currently displayed in a museum at Beihai Mountain Wine Sea and had them inscribed Qianlong) and "suo bao wei xian" (what I
Park, Beijing, and one of the most famous on it. These poems, particularly the earliest, prize are virtuous men), a reference to the
jades in Chinese history. The Du Mountain dated 1746, provide much of the information classic Book of Annals. DPL
Wine Sea measures over twenty-three and about the thirteenth-century basin. One of

30