.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A number of spinach-green jade brush pots of similar date have been published, including an example of almost the same size and decorated with the same scene, from the collection of E.L. Paget, illustrated by S. Nott, Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages, London, 1937, pl. CXXVI; one illustrated in The Baur Collection, Chinese Jades and other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, no. B 98; and one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 207, no. 169. Perhaps the closest comparable example in terms of the size and decoration is a brush pot from the Heber Bishop Collection sold at Christie's New York, 13 September 2012, lot 1035. The remarkable quality and elegance of the carving on the present example, however, distinguishes it as an exceptional example among known jade bush pots dating to the 18th century.
In a discussion of the large green jade brush pot dated to the 18th century in the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, no. 29.18, the author, Jessica Rawson, notes that jade workshops sometimes used conventional painting and printing themes as the basis for their designs. The carver treated the surface of the jade almost like a sheet of paper and used his "techniques to produce the effects of a painting." She notes, however, that it is much more difficult to achieve depth of field or recession in jade carving. The figures are all carved on a single plane with three-dimensionality achieved by varying the depth of the carving through the stone.
In a discussion of the large green jade brush pot dated to the 18th century in the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, London, 1995, no. 29.18, the author, Jessica Rawson, notes that jade workshops sometimes used conventional painting and printing themes as the basis for their designs. The carver treated the surface of the jade almost like a sheet of paper and used his "techniques to produce the effects of a painting." She notes, however, that it is much more difficult to achieve depth of field or recession in jade carving. The figures are all carved on a single plane with three-dimensionality achieved by varying the depth of the carving through the stone.