Page 31 - Sotheby's New York Chinese Jade Auction September 13, 2018

The inscription on the cover of the wood box includes a title, Gu zu Wu Dacheng (1835-1902), a major fgure in late Qing politics and
cong (Ancient zu cong), written in seal script and picked out in gilding, culture, was a senior government offcial, and distinguished scholar,
followed by a lengthy inscription in clerical script suggesting that the artist, collector and art patron. Having passed his metropolitan
current jade cong could have been used as a weight, referencing the examination in 1868, his government service included serving as
Kaogongji (Records of Examination of Craftsmen), a classic work on governor of Guangdong and Hunan provinces. Among his many
science and technology in ancient China compiled at the end of accomplishments in scholarship and art were his studies of inscriptions
the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC), in which it suggests on ancient bronze and stone objects; his refned calligraphy and
that zu cong were used as weights. The inscription is followed by painting; and his formation of a massive collection of art and antiquities.
the signature of Wu Dacheng. These activities had an enormous infuence on collecting in the modern
era, and his grandson, Wu Hufan (1894-1968), was one of the most
infuential collectors of twentieth-century China.
清或以前 仿古黑青玉琮

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