As inscribed on the cover of the box and repeated again on the cover of the jade tablet, this book contains two different versions of calligraphy relating to thirteen lines of text. This text is an excerpt taken from the Prose of Loshen, the Nymph of Lo River, a tale of physical human beauty and unrequited love written by Cao Zhi (192 A.D. - 232 A.D.), the son of General Cao Cao who ruled north China during the collapse of the Han dynasty. According to sources, this work was destroyed or lost leaving only thirteen lines in existence. The text was preserved in the calligraphy of Wang Xianzhi (344 A.D. - 386 A.D.), seventh son of the influencial scholar-offical Wang Xizhi (307 A.D. - 365 A.D.).

According to the inscriptions, the first part of the jade book written in larger standard script is dated to the mid-Autumn of binyin year in the Qianlong period, corresponding to 1746 A.D.; the calligraphy imitating the style of Tang dynasty scholar, Liu Gongquan (778 A.D. - 865 A.D.), who copied Wang's original. The book continues in smaller standard script, copying a calligraphic style taken from a Song dynasty work of the same text, and dated to the winter solstice of Qianlong jisi year, 1749 A.D.

Compare a similarly incised jade book with a Qianlong date equivalent to 1745, illustrated by Watson, Chinese Jade Book in the Chester Beatty Library, pl. 1; where the author discusses a group of fifteen jade books of various dates, passim.

(US$45,000-55,000)