Page 253 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

931 AN IMPERIAL EMBELLISHED- 清Գ隆ǭ御ㅳ白玉柄鏤空嵌寶金鞘㈛食刀
JADE HUNTING KNIFE AND
Ϝ源
GOLD SCABBARD 香港蘇富比
年 月 日
拍品編號
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795) 水松⒢山房莫士撝Ⅷ藏
The slender steel blade is incised with a gilt three-clawed dragon 藍理捷
紐約
編號Y
chasing a flaming pearl near the hilt on either side, and the white
展覽
jade handle is decorated at both ends with bands of faceted square 紐約
藍理捷
「雅ㅳ：中國文՞藝ワ」
年 月 日
ruby-red glass inlays. The gold scabbard is wrought in openwork
floral scroll and decorated with similar glass collars at either end, ֨ḛ
with the open end further decorated with a small florette and 藍理捷
《雅ㅳ：中國文՞藝ワ》
紐約
年
編號
surmounted by a protruding dragon-head tab fitted with a loop
for suspension. The base of the scabbard and the top of the handle
have matching inlaid eight-petaled florettes.
Overall: 12¡ in. (31.5 cm.) long, steel stand, cloth box
Knife: 10æ in. (27.4 cm.) long
Scabbard: 8æ in. (22.2 cm.) long
$70,000-90,000
PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2010, lot 1812.
Hugh Moss, Shuisongshi Shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone
Retreat) Collection.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. x2623.
EXHIBITED:
New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Elegantly Made: Art for the Chinese
Literati, 13-27 March 2020.
LITERATURE:
J. J. Lally & Co., Elegantly Made: Art for the Chinese Literati,
New York, 2020, no. 23.

The current type of knife was originally used as a hunting knife
by the Manchus, although intricately decorated versions such as
the present example were more likely intended for ceremonial
use by the Qing Emperors or high-ranking Manchu nobles.
A Qianlong-period imperial knife with jade handle and gold
scabbard decorated with turquoise, coral and lazurite inlays in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated by C. Ho and B. Bronson
in Splendors of China’s Forbidden City: The Glorious Reign of Emperor
Qianlong, Chicago, 2004, p. 201, no. 248, where an alternative
use is noted: “The use of personal knives at meals was a mark of
Manchu identity. When eating sacrificial pork, not only men but
also women were expected to cut up their own meat.” These small
knives are known to have been worn suspended from the belt.
A similar knife and scabbard suspended from an imperial court
belt is illustrated ibid. p. 59, fig. 52 and another is shown in a detail
image from an official portrait of the Qianlong emperor in full
regalia, p. 59, fig. 53.

Two other ceremonial court belts from the Qing dynasty with
suspended accessories including similar knives in fitted scabbards
are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in
Qing dai fushi zhanlan tulu (Catalogue of the Exhibition of Ch’ing
Dynasty Costume Accessories), Taipei, 1986, pp. 114-15, nos. 32
and 33.

(another view)

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