A RARE DOCUMENTARY GRAYISH-GREEN JADE PARROT AND PEACH GROUP

ANOTHER PROPERTY

Details

A RARE DOCUMENTARY GRAYISH-GREEN JADE PARROT AND PEACH GROUP
DATED TO THE YIYU YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1705, AND OF THE PERIOD

Well carved as a parrot pecking at a large peach borne on the gnarled leafy branch on which it is perched, the details finely carved and incised, the peach carved on one side with a bat and incised on its underside with a ten-character inscription commemorating the Emperor Kangxi's southern expedition, and dated to the yiyu year, corresponding to 1705, the softly polished stone of grayish-green color with opaque buff and some brown mottling
5½in. (14cm.) long

Exhibited

London, Spink & Son Ltd, The Minor Arts of China III, March 31-April 16, 2987, no. 153

Lot Essay

The inscription, qin ci yi yu you nien Gusu xing gong, may be translated, 'Bestowed by the Emperor in the yiyou year. The imperial traveling lodge at Gusu'

Gusu is probably a literary name for Suzhou in Jiangsu province. During the year 1705 the Emperor Kangxi is recorded as having visited Suzhou for a few days during one of his southern tours. On the eighteenth day of the third month (April 11), which was his birthday, he gave a banquet for senior provincial officials and distributed gifts, of which this, presumably, is one