ANOTHER PROPERTY
AN IMPERIAL GREEN JADE SQUARE SEAL

Details
AN IMPERIAL GREEN JADE SQUARE SEAL
EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The square block carved on top with a large handle formed by a pair of dragons, their heads addorsed and their scaly bodies seemingly a combination of addorsed and overlaid, with ridged backbones, knobbed horns and long whiskers, the base carved with a four-character seal,
Jiu you yi xin, the stone of mottled green color with black flecking throughout, small chips
5 1/8in. (13cm.) across

Lot Essay

The seal may be translated, 'Nine have one heart'

Green jade seals of this design and large size were used during the Qing dynasty. See one of the emperor Qianlong's seals illustrated by Robert L. Thorp, Son of Heaven: Imperial Arts of China, Seattle, 1988, p. 75, p. 22; and a seal of the emperor Yongzheng included in the exhibition, Jade as Sculpture, Minnesota Museum of Art, February 16-March 26, 1975, Catalogue, no. 4; and a seal of the emperor Daoguang included in the exhibition, Dragon Emperor, Treasures from the Forbidden City, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, December 16-February 12, 1989, Catalogue, p. 88, no. 45a