A PALE MOTTLED GREENISH-WHITE JADE VASE AND COVER

18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

A PALE MOTTLED GREENISH-WHITE JADE VASE AND COVER
18TH/19TH CENTURY
Carved as a flattened baluster vase raised on a rocky base from which grows a prunus tree carved in high relief and openwork on one side, its blossoming branches extending up and onto the other side and around the neck where a magpie in flight gazes down at its mate standing on one of the rocky outcroppings at the base opposite another outcropping partially obscured by blossoming aster, with clusters of bamboo and lingzhi also growing from the rocky base on the reverse, the domed cover with separately made finial encircled by a single rope-twist band
10¼ in. (26.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Scottish collection.
Spink & Son, Ltd., London.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

A very similar jade vase and cover of the the same shape and almost identical size (27 cm. high), also carved with prunus blossoms, although lacking magpies, is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji, Hebei, 1991, p. 160, pl. 238. (Fig.1)

The symbolism found on the present jade vase is especially auspicious, as two magpies (xique) amidst bamboo (zhu) and plum (mei), form the rebus zhumei shuangxi, or 'double happiness for the bride and groom'. In this instance, the bamboo and plum represent the happy couple, and the magpies represent double happiness. It is therefore a possibility that the present vase may have been commissioned as a gift on the occassion of a wedding.

More from Superb Jade Carvings from an Important European Collection

View All