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Lot Essay
The Qianlong emperor’s great love of jade combined with his passion for antiques resulted in his commissioning significant numbers of archaistic jade items for his court. The vessel from which the present lot takes inspiration is the archaic bronze gong. Archaic bronze examples would normally have been accompanied by a cover in zoomorphic form, such as an example illustrated in the woodblock printed catalogue Xiqing Gujian, ‘Inspection of Antiques’ (fig. 1). However, this exquisite white jade version was evidently produced without a cover. It is the ultimate testament of a consummate master craftsman to have been able to conceive and combine elegant form with confident subtly defined motifs, working the pure white raw material to its best and fullest advantage.
The present ewer is especially distinguished by the size and quality of its material. The stone displays attributes of the finest ‘mutton-fat’ jades - white, even, unctuous and devoid of flaws. The source of the material was Xinjiang, most likely in the 1750s after the capture of this area by the Qing Empire, which brought a steady flow of Khotan jades to the Qing court.
Extremely few other examples of this rare form, impressive size, and outstanding quality are known, most of which are preserved in the Qing court collection. A similar white jade gong of slightly smaller but wider proportion (16.6 cm. high, 18 cm. wide) is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanjj – 6 – Qing, Shijiazhuang, 1991, no. 37 (fig. 2), which is also made without a cover. For white jade gong with covers, compare to two examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one of which is closely modelled after the bronze original in form and decoration (14.4 cm. high, 16.6 cm. wide), the other similar in style to the present ewer but of smaller size and a more flattened form, see The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 1997, nos. 13 and 20, respectively.
For other Qianlong white jade gong that have appeared on auctions, compare to one sold at Christie’s London, 13 May 2008, lot 65 (19.8 cm. high), which has a protruding lip at one end of the mouth in the form of a large beast head to accommodate the cover; and another carved in the round with a phoenix supporting the upright hollow vessel, sold at Bonham’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2018, lot 27 (18.8 cm. high).
The present ewer is especially distinguished by the size and quality of its material. The stone displays attributes of the finest ‘mutton-fat’ jades - white, even, unctuous and devoid of flaws. The source of the material was Xinjiang, most likely in the 1750s after the capture of this area by the Qing Empire, which brought a steady flow of Khotan jades to the Qing court.
Extremely few other examples of this rare form, impressive size, and outstanding quality are known, most of which are preserved in the Qing court collection. A similar white jade gong of slightly smaller but wider proportion (16.6 cm. high, 18 cm. wide) is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanjj – 6 – Qing, Shijiazhuang, 1991, no. 37 (fig. 2), which is also made without a cover. For white jade gong with covers, compare to two examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one of which is closely modelled after the bronze original in form and decoration (14.4 cm. high, 16.6 cm. wide), the other similar in style to the present ewer but of smaller size and a more flattened form, see The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 1997, nos. 13 and 20, respectively.
For other Qianlong white jade gong that have appeared on auctions, compare to one sold at Christie’s London, 13 May 2008, lot 65 (19.8 cm. high), which has a protruding lip at one end of the mouth in the form of a large beast head to accommodate the cover; and another carved in the round with a phoenix supporting the upright hollow vessel, sold at Bonham’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2018, lot 27 (18.8 cm. high).