Page 176 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

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A VERY PALE GREEN JADE ARCHAISTIC ‘HEAVENLY BIRD’ AN ARCHAISTIC SPINACH-GREEN JADE ‘DRAGON AND
VASE AND COVER PHOENIX’ VASE, ZUN
Qianlong Qianlong
The mythical bird exquisitely carved standing on pierced, angular Crisply carved as a standing mythical bird with the head facing
scroll-work, with finely incised-plumage supporting a vase carved with forward slightly to the right, carrying a hollowed vase incised with
archaistic taotie masks in low relief, the domed cover surmounted by C-scrolls between a pair of upswept wings, a scaly dragon curled
a finial, the stone of pale green tone with some darker patches. around behind the phoenix and the vase, the stone of dark olive-green
12.5cm (4 3/4in) high (2). tone with black flecks, silver-wire inlaid wood stand.
10.2cm (3 1/2in) high. (2).
£10,000 - 15,000
CNY88,000 - 130,000 £2,000 - 3,000
CNY18,000 - 26,000
清乾隆 青白玉雕天雞蓋尊 清乾隆 碧玉雕龍鳳尊

The archaistic flying mythical creatures known as ‘heavenly birds’ Provenance: a European private collection, and thence by descent
or tianji and are commonly mistaken as phoenixes. The legend of
tianji dates back to the Jin dynasty (AD 265–420) as recorded in 來源：歐洲私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今
Xuanzhongji or ‘Records of Mysterious Phenomenons’ by the Eastern
Jin scholar and writer Guo Pu (AD 276-324). It is said that there lies a The combination of the dragon and phoenix is from Daoism, and
giant tree on Mount Taodu whereby the tree is so immense it shades represents sagacity, long life and benevolence. A related ‘dragon
an area of five thousand kilometres. The tianji is found perched on the and phoenix’ vase group from the Harvard University Art Museum, is
tree while other birds mimic its singing. Another 4th-6th century record illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Jade I, Taipei, 1981,
also mentions the tianji as a bird that could fly a thousand miles high no.153. The shape of the vase in the present group is in imitation of
and whose flapping wings would produce thunderous sounds when archaic bronzes, and archaistic jade carvings of the Song dynasty.
outstretched. See a related jade phoenix vase but without cover, 18th A related white jade example, in the form of an archaic bronze gu of
century, illustrated in Jade Chinois: Pierres D’Immortalité, Paris, 1997, diamond cross-section, 18th century, also detailed with a dragon on
p.188, no.123. Compare with a related pale green jade ‘cockerel’ the side of the vase, is illustrated by R.Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the
vase and cover, 18th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, p.188,
formerly the collection of Florence and Herbert Irving, which was sold no.144, and later sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2006,
at Sotheby’s New York, 10 September 2019, lot 18. lot 1385.

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