Page 72 - Christie's Irving Collection Lacquer Bronse jade and Ink March 2019

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L A C Q U E R • J A D E • B R O N Z E • I N K T H E R V I N G C O L L E C T I O N 髹金飾玉 - 歐雲伉儷珍藏

Fig. 1 The imperial poem on the present jade washer, as documented in the Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji (Complete Collection of the Imperial Poems
of the Qing Emperor Gaozong), Beijing, 1993, vol. 8, p. 713.
圖一 本件雙魚洗上的御題詩在《清高宗御制詩文全集》中的著錄。

This washer is the largest of three known Qianlong jade (see Xiqing gujian – Qinding siku quanshu 西清古鑑 欽定
washers of this form with two archaic-style fsh carved on 四庫全書, Shanghai, vol. 2, 2003, pp. 692-95). (Fig. 2) The
the interior. A small example (13.2 cm. diam.), apparently Xiqing gujian is a 40-volume illustrated catalogue of ancient
without an inscription, is in the Baur Collection, Geneva (see bronzes commissioned by the Qianlong emperor. It was
Pierre-F. Schneeberger, The Baur Collection – Chinese Jades compiled between 1749 and 1755 by Liang Shizheng (梁詩正
and Other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, no. B10); a somewhat 1697-1763), Yu Minzhong (于敏中1714-1778) and Jiang Pu
larger, unpublished example is in a British private collection (蔣溥1708-1761) and includes some 1529 bronze objects
(17.8 cm. diam.); while the current example is the largest with from the imperial collection. The images in this catalogue
a diameter of 25.5 cm. Like the present example, the washer exerted considerable infuence on the form of jades
in the private collection has low, neatly carved feet, but while commissioned by the Qianlong emperor.
the current vessel has fve feet, this slightly smaller washer
has four feet. The washer in the private collection also has An extant Han-dynasty bronze basin with similar twin-
the same imperial inscription and cyclical date. fsh decoration on its interior is in the Lee Kong Chian Art
Museum, Singapore (see National University of Singapore,
The fsh carved on these washers have been deliberately Lee Kong Chian Art Museum, Singapore, 1990, p. 306, no.
rendered in archaistic style, with the two fsh carved side by 336). On this bronze vessel there is an additional short
side in high relief, and slightly under-cut, in a more formal auspicious inscription, which appears between the fsh.
style than is commonly seen on other jade pieces. As the Like the jade washers, the bronze vessels depict both fsh
inscription suggests, vessels with this type of twin-fsh facing in the same direction – not head to tail as was often
design are well-known in bronze from the Han dynasty, and the case on other vessels. Bronze basins with similar fsh
there were a number of these bronze examples in Qianlong’s apparently linked by a line – possibly to suggest a cord that
own collection. The Xiqing gujian 西清古鑑 illustrated six would facilitate carrying them - have been found in tombs in
bronze washers with paired fsh dated to the Han dynasty Anhui and Jiangsu, dated AD 245 and 295 respectively (see

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