THE JARDINIÈRES 18TH CENTURY, THE STEM INSERTS 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

A MAGNIFICENT PAIR OF PAINTED ENAMEL JARDINIÈRES WITH INSET HARDSTONES
THE JARDINIÈRES 18TH CENTURY, THE STEM INSERTS 18TH/19TH CENTURY
The lobed jardinières are delicately painted around the exterior with various blooms borne on scrolling vines with dense foliage. The interiors are applied with a carved ivory panel emulating crashing waves into which tall stems have been inserted. The stems are supporting lotus leaves carved from spinach-green jade, elaborate lotus blooms carved from white jade and with jadeite pods, and further pods and flowers carved from tourmaline. One jardinière is further adorned with two Mandarin ducks carved from malachite, which are perched on a large amethyst rock. The other jardinière has a large pale celadon jade crane perched amongst the stems.
Each 38 in. (96.5 cm.) high overall (2)

Provenance

Previously sold in our New York rooms, 19 September, 1996, lot 397
S. & G. Group Company, San Francisco, July 2 1926

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Sale room notice

Please note that the provenance should read:
Previously sold in our New York rooms, 19 September, 1996, lot 397
S. & G. Group Company, San Francisco, July 2 1926

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Lot Essay

These magnificent jardinières are part of a well documented group of wares richly embellished with hardstones and semi-precious stones.
The jardinières are beautifully painted with soft tones of pink, red, yellow and blue, all reserved on a pale lilac ground. There are a number of these delicately painted enamel wares in the Forbidden City, Beijing; compare a painted enamel Kang-table with the same type of floral decoration but on a yellow ground and published in Jin Shu Tai Falanqi or Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 239, pl. 226.

A number of these hard and semi-precious stones-embellished wares are also in the Forbidden City, but none of them of such size as the current lot. Compare a miniature landscape of narcissus but on a carved jade pot, illustrated in Treasures of Imperial Court, The Complete Collection of Treasures of The Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2004, p. 48, pl. 41. See also a miniature landscape of a coral peach tree, where the flowers are carved from jade, quartz and malachite, ibid, p. 40, pl. 33.

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