QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Details

A FINELY CARVED SPINACH-GREEN JADE RECTANGULAR TABLE SCREEN
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY
The plaque is carved in high relief to depict a rocky mountain landscape scene. It is detailed with a bearded sage, who is dressed in a flowing robe and holding in one hand a ruyi, descending along a mountain pass. His head is turned back to view a lone pavilion situated in the far distance under swirling clouds. In the distance, walking ahead is an acolyte holding a vessel containing the plant, wannianqing. The reverse with a twisted flowering prunus tree, growing on a rockwork ground between two deep overhangs. The stone is of a characteristic deep green with areas of mottling.
7 1/2 x 10 in. (19 x 25.5 cm.), wood stand, box

Provenance

Rybakoff, St. Petersburg, and sold at Christie's London, 4 June 1973, lot 29

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Lot Essay

The mountain landscape depicted on the present screen portrays an image of longevity and an idealised rustic scene. The plant, carried in the arms of the acolyte, can be identified as Rohdea japonica or wannianqing, an ever-green which provides the auspicious homophone: "green for ten thousand years". Two similar examples of this type of spinach-green jade rectangular screens are in the Qing Court collection, illustrated in Jadeware (III), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 58-59, nos. 47 and 48.

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