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A MOTTLED GRAY JADE ARCHAISTIC A PALE GRAY JADE RETICULATED A GREEN JADE ‘PEACH AND BAT’
TWO-HANDLED CUP WATER COUPE TOGETHER WITH A PALE BRUSHWASHER
Ming dynasty GREY JADE TWO-HANDLED CUP 18th century
Formed from a grayish stone with fine darker 17th century The grayish-green stone with bright russet
striations, the deeply hollowed cup with a The water coupe carved as on open blossom patches formed as a rounded, hollowed
band of raised bosses above the stepped foot on an intricately twisting stem also issuing fruit issuing from a crisply carved twisting
and animal masks flanked by incised chilong magnolia flowers and a pomegranate, a branch with elaborately spreading, curling
and flanges on the waisted neck, each looped perching bird pecking at the fruit; the cup with leaves supporting two bats with spreading
handle emerging form a stylized animal head. low curving sides carved with raised bosses, wings, the smooth interior deeply hollowed,
7in (17.8cm) wide each handle shaped as a mythical beast wood stand.
$3,000 - 5,000 head, wood cover and stand. 8 1/4in (21cm) long
4 3/8in (11.1cm) width of the water coupe $6,000 - 8,000
明 灰玉螭龍紋雙耳小盃 $2,500 - 3,500
十八世紀 青玉福壽雙全筆洗
Compare a related jade cup from the British 十七世紀 灰玉鏤雕花枝紋水丞及青灰玉雙
Museum dated to the 14th-16th centuries, of 耳小盃 Hollowed carvings of fruit, such as the Three
similar size, stone quality and carving style, Auspicious Fruit (peach, pomegranate, and
but with a ribbed circular body, illustrated in A related flower-shaped cup and two finger citron) were popular objects for the
the catalogue to the Oriental Ceramic Society archaistic cups with circular bosses in the scholar’s desk in the late Ming and early Qing
exhibition Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, British Museum are illustrated by J. Rawson, periods, providing both adornment and utility
London, 1975, no. 330. Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, as an essential tool for the literatus.
London, 1995, p. 389, figs. 7 and 8.
The present carving, formed as a peach,
Compare also a related floral cup from the represents the wish for longevity, and the
Qing Court Collection and dated to the Ming addition of the bat represents the wish
dynasty illustrated in The Complete Collection for happiness and prosperity. Compare
of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware another carving made from similar green
(II), Hong Kong, 2006, no. 198. Two further stone with russet inclusions, dated to the
examples, one carved as a peach and one as Ming dynasty but formed as the finger
a flower, are illustrated by P.F. Schneeberger, citron, another of the Three Auspicious
The Baur Collection, Geneva: Chinese Jades Fruits, illustrated in Later Chinese Jades:
and Other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, nos. Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century,
B41 and B42. San Francisco, 2007, no. 334.
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