Page 15 - Chiense jades Hong Kong Sothebys April 2017

iconographic motif in the Han dynasty, frequently
found in stone carving, including amidst other
large stone animal statues at the tomb of the
general Huo Qubing (d. 117 BC).
Arguably the finest jade sculpture in the
collection is the superbly carved sculpture of
a bixie, lot 3311. The bear and elephant are
both realistic representations of animals that
could have been closely observed at court,
perhaps kept in the private menageries or
‘theme parks’ utilised since the reign of Qin
Shihuangdi as ‘supreme forests’ (shanglin)
designed as microcosms of the world, but the
bixie, a synthesis of a horned lion and dragon with deeply embedded in the material pursuits of the
wings, derived from Western Asia, is very much
a mythical beast, one frequently used in Han
dynasty iconography as a formidable protective
force. Powerfully articulated from a lustrous white of figures and landscape scenes on belt buckles,
and russet pebble in which the full contours have
been so skilfully and compactly utilised, it is a
truly outstanding sculpture, a tour-de-force of
carving, comparable to the finest quality Han
dynasty jade animals preserved in museum
and private collections, and ranking alongside
the bixie found at Xianyang, where the overall
articulation of the beast’s form, the depiction of
the ferocious jaws, bulging eyes, curved muscular
body, dynamic energy of the crouching position
and the precise linearity of the curls closely are
so closely matched, ibid., pls 171 and 174.
Among the rarest offerings in the collection are
two Western Han dynasty calcified white jade
figures of ladies, lot 3323. Much more commonly
found in painted pottery or wood, such figures are
prized by historians for the insight they provide
on fashion and adornment of the period. In these
unusually large examples, intricate details are
visible, including their precise drapery, and even
the pins of their top knotted hair. Their precise
function is difficult to denote, but it may be that
in contrast to Han jade sculptures created for
the present, these rare figures may have been
commissioned for the purpose of accompanying
their wealthy owners to the afterlife.
In the Song dynasty, the use of jade was primarily
for utilitarian purposes, particularly as accessories rockwork swirling in a manner characteristic of
of dress and adornment on learned individuals for
whom it epitomised everything that was noble and
pure. Such individuals deeply valued the traditions
of the past and cultivated archaism, but the overall
function of the jade accessories they wore was
present day, contributing to their visible identity
and status in society. This reached its greatest
articulation in the extraordinarily vivid depictions
a tradition derived from the steppe areas at the
periphery of China, but brought to a new level of
sophistication and refinement under the scholarly
aestheticism of the Song, where jade belts ranked
highest, above rhinoceros horn, gold and silver.
Jade belt plaques decorated with dragons and
other emblems of Imperial authority would have
suited high-ranking members of the elite. Lot
3307, a jade plaque decorated with a vivid design
of a dragon depicted writhing ferociously amidst
ruyi scrolls, is worked from even white stone of
the highest quality, extremely rare at that time.
The quality of the workmanship is evident in the
complex lobed form and the skill in which the
dragon emerges in vivid three-dimensionality
amidst the foliage, intricately picked out in
differing levels of relief. It is less immediately
obvious what the design of lot 3304 represents,
with its vivid depiction of a scholar and attendants
amidst a wondrous landscape scene, but the
sheer quality of the workmanship is unsurpassed
on other plaques of the Song to Yuan dynasty, the
pale green stone superbly worked, smoothed and
polished in deep levels of relief, achieving the level
of perspective of a scroll painting, the features
and robes of the scholar intricately rendered, the
natural russet of the skin incorporated into the
design of the foliage, the branches of the tree and
the finest quality jades of the period.
By the time of the Qing dynasty, new sources of
jade precipitated a boom in production. In addition
to vessels created for ritual use or conscious
archaism, decorative objects were increasingly
produced in larger numbers for all strata of elite
society. It became possible to experiment with
larger and more complex shapes, and there was a
greater choice of colour in the stone used. Tactile
objects of jewellery quality were created not just
for utilitarian purposes, eg. as paperweights,
but also purely for enjoyment, as ‘playthings’ for
the elite. In their subject matter, particularly the
emphasis on auspiciousness, they reflect the
customs and aspirations of the period. Lot 3326, a
jade carving of a rabbit from the early Qing period,
created from rich yellow stone of deep luminosity,
perfectly illustrates this new development. It may
possibly have been commissioned by or for an
individual of that zodiac, and made even more
propitious by the manner in which the rabbit is
depicted munching a stem of lingzhi, evoking
the image of the Daoist ‘moon rabbit’ creating
the elixir of immortality. Solidly formed with no
expense spared in the use of material and in the
sheer quality of the workmanship, it could have
originally been created to serve the function of a
paperweight, but could equally have been made
purely for the visual and tactile delight of any lover
of jade.