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Lot Essay
The current stone is cleverly worked to form a superb carving of a crane that serves as a functional box at the same time. Unquestionably considerable amount of jade materials would have been wasted, through the hollowing of the box and intricate piercing of the openwork branches. It is evident that no expense was spared in the production of superior jade carvings for the Qing elites. Cranes and lingzhi are symbolic of longevity in Chinese mythology, and it is likely that the current box was used as a container.
This box is very similar in style to a white jade carving of two cranes from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, in which the primary standing crane is depicted in a similar posture with its long neck turned to one side, grasping a lingzhi spray while supported by pierced lingzhi branches, illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 197.
This box is very similar in style to a white jade carving of two cranes from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, in which the primary standing crane is depicted in a similar posture with its long neck turned to one side, grasping a lingzhi spray while supported by pierced lingzhi branches, illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 197.