Page 157 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

The appreciation of the agate stone saw a revival
during the Yongzheng reign. Records in the archives of
the Imperial Jade Workshops, yuzuo, dated between
1724 and 1729, note that the emperor ordered agate
brushwashers and bowls to be kept undecorated in
order to show the original pattern of the agate stone;
pieces with ‘intricate’ designs or of unsatisfactory
quality were rejected and sent back to the Imperial
Palace Workshops. The Imperial collections in Taipei
and Beijing hold a number of extant agate vessels,
bearing the Yongzheng mark and of the period,
which similarly to the present lot and according to the
Yongzheng emperor’s instructions, were kept plain.
These include from the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, bowls of various forms, a water dropper, and
a cup on a similarly shaped oval stand; see Feng
Mingzhu, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng
Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2009, pp.235-245;
and from the Palace Museum, Beijing, an agate cup
and dish; see Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji,
Hebei, 2005, pp.553 and p.550, nos.10 and 62.

When comparing the number of agate vessels and jade
carvings bearing the Yongzheng and Qianlong reign
marks, it is evident that the Yongzheng emperor greatly
admired the natural virtues of the agate stone. The
Qianlong period saw greater output of jade carvings,
although there was continuity of agate carvings in
the Imperial Workshops as demonstrated in an agate
bowl-stand, Qianlong mark and period, in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London, which according to
the Wells bequest records came ‘from the Summer
Palace at Peking’, referring to the Yuanmingyuan; see
M.Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, pp.96-97,
pl.95 (museum no.1551A-1882). The Qianlong emperor 144
inherited his father’s interest in agate, but combined it
with the influence of Mughal jades which had grown
in popularity at his court. The present lot, in its thin,
chrysanthemum petal-style carving encapsulates the fad
for Mughal jade carving in this period. See a small agate
bowl, Qianlong four-character mark and of the period,
which was sold at Sotheby’s Paris, 12 December 2013,
lot 43. See also an oval agate dish, Yongzheng mark
and of the period, which was sold at Bonhams London,
12 May 2011, lot 184.
145 *
A PAIR OF WHITE JADE MUGHAL STYLE
‘CHRYSANTHEMUM’ DISHES
Qianlong/Jiaqing
Each of oval form, crisply carved to the interiors with
radiating chrysanthemum petals radiating outwards
towards the rims, the exterior of one dish carved
with finger citrons, the other carved with three of the
bajixiang, the translucent stone of pale white tone,
fitted box. Each 12cm (4 3/4in) long (3).
£2,000 - 3,000
CNY18,000 - 26,000
清乾隆/嘉慶 痕都斯坦式白玉菊瓣盤一對

Provenance: a Swiss private collection

來源：瑞士私人收藏

See a very similar white jade chrysanthemum petalled
dish, carved with two peaches on the base, Qing
dynasty, in the National Museum of History, Taipei,
illustrated in The Jade-Carving Art in the Ch’ing
Dynasty, Taipei, 1990, p.31.
145

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE CHINESE ART | 155