Page 22 - 2020 Sept 22 Junkunc_ Chinese Jade Carvings _ Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Junkunc: Chinese Jade Carvings | Sotheby's

This spectacularly dramatic jade boulder, with its towering jagged rocky mountain and crop of lingzhi nestled at the base, is
extremely rare and demonstrates the wealth of creative and artistic craftsmanship during the Qianlong period. No other closely
related example appears to be published, although a larger jade boulder similarly carved as a columnar rugged rocky mountain,
but depicting Shoulao with a deer and two cranes, from the Harry M. Weinrebe Collection, was sold twice at Christie's Hong Kong,
30th October 2000, lot 732 and again, 27th May 2008, lot 1607. Compare also a large celadon jade scholar's rock sold at Bonhams
New York, 9th September 2019, lot 806. Lingzhi in a rocky setting are also found on the reverse of a jade boulder, the front
depicting the Buddha in a cave, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Gugong bowuyuan wenwu cangpin daxi. Yuqi
juan/Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, vol. 8: Qing, Beijing, 2011, pl. 107.

In subject, this carving appears to illustrate the passage referring to lingzhi from Huang Di nei jing [The Yellow Emperor's Classic of
Health], which is believed to have been compiled during the second half of the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), 'these grow deep in
the mountains, at the base of large trees or beside springs. They may resemble buildings, palanquins and horses, dragon and
tigers, human beings, or flying birds' (see James R. Ware (trans.), Alchemy, Medicine, Religion in the China of A.D. 320: the Nei
P'ien of Ko Hung, Cambridge, Mass., 1966, p. 68). The lingzhi fungus, Ganoderma lucidum, also known as the 'magical mushroom
of immortality' was believed to possess supernatural qualities. In Shen Nong's Herbal Classic, written in the Han Dynasty, out of
hundreds of plants, animals and minerals, lingzhi was ranked as the most important medicine. It was used to treat a variety of
ailments and thus earned the reputation as an immortality-inducing herb and an extremely popular ingredient in Daoist recipes for
longevity and as an elixir for immortality.

本山子氣勢恢弘，極爲珍罕，乾隆年間玉雕工藝超卓，創思層出，據現時記載無近例可比，唯可比較一件玉山，尺寸碩大，雕刻絕壁紋飾
與本品相近，並刻壽老、靈鹿及仙鶴，出自 Harry M. Weinrebe 收藏，兩度售於香港佳士得，先後為2000年10月30日，編號732及2008
年5月27日，編號1607。再比一例，青玉賞石，售於紐約邦瀚斯2019年9月9日，編號806。北京故宮博物院收藏一例，正面刻佛像，背面
刻靈芝山石，載於《故宮博物院文物藏品大系·玉器卷》，卷8：清，北京，2011年，圖版107。

本品題材，或靈感源於《皇帝内經》中對於靈芝的描述。另見葛洪《抱朴子》内篇中記載：「菌芝，或生深山之中，或生大木之下，或生
泉之側，其狀或如宮室，或如車馬，或如龍虎，或如人形，或如飛鳥」（見 James R. Ware 譯，《Alchemy, Medicine, Religion in the
China of A.D. 320: the Nei P’ien of Ko Hung》，劍橋，麻省，1966年，頁68）。靈芝，西學拉丁學名為「Ganoderma lucidum」，有
仙草之譽。漢《神農草本經》列靈芝為「上藥」之首，可療各種疾病，乃道家食療養生上品，傳説有長生奇效。

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