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Lot Essay
Jade books were highly sumptuous items made only for the most important rituals or investitures of emperors. During the Qianlong period, however, jade books were also made for the pleasure of the Qianlong Emperor, in part due to his fascination with jade, and in part due to the increase in supply of the material following the pacification of the Xinjiang area in 1759.
The present jade plaque depicts on each side an arhat - a Buddhist adept who attained enlightenment - meditating or reading a sutra. Although they are considered holy in India, arhats only became figures of devotion when Buddhism spread to Tibet. Amongst these figures, a group of sixteen has been singled out as the most revered, and as Tibetan Buddhism was adopted by the Qing Imperial court to be the primary religion, these sixteen figures were frequently depicted in different media. The main side of the present plaque depicts the first of this group, Angaja. He is shown holding a sutra in one hand seated above a rock, a composition taken from a 10th century painting by Monk Guanxiu, which the Emperor Qianlong viewed in the Shengyin Temple in Hangzhou during his Southern Tours in 1757. The experience of viewing these paintings greatly inspired him and he composed a series of poems accompanying each of the arhats the next year, one of which is inscribed on this plaque. The Emperor Qianlong also commissioned the court painter Ding Guanpeng to paint a new set of luohan paintings in the style of Guanxiu, which are now preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. The depiction of the Sixteen Luohan in Guanxiu’s style was also frequently seen on Imperial works of art, such as a massive screen in the Palace Museum.
For other imperially inscribed gilt-decorated spinach-green jade plaques, compare a set of four inscribed with ‘Ode to the Red Cliff’ sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 2014, lot 1245, and another set of eight plaques inscribed with Shiquan laoren zhibao shuo (Disquisition on the Seal of an Old Man of Perfect Completion) sold at Christie’s New York, 14-15 September 2017, lot 1025.
The present jade plaque depicts on each side an arhat - a Buddhist adept who attained enlightenment - meditating or reading a sutra. Although they are considered holy in India, arhats only became figures of devotion when Buddhism spread to Tibet. Amongst these figures, a group of sixteen has been singled out as the most revered, and as Tibetan Buddhism was adopted by the Qing Imperial court to be the primary religion, these sixteen figures were frequently depicted in different media. The main side of the present plaque depicts the first of this group, Angaja. He is shown holding a sutra in one hand seated above a rock, a composition taken from a 10th century painting by Monk Guanxiu, which the Emperor Qianlong viewed in the Shengyin Temple in Hangzhou during his Southern Tours in 1757. The experience of viewing these paintings greatly inspired him and he composed a series of poems accompanying each of the arhats the next year, one of which is inscribed on this plaque. The Emperor Qianlong also commissioned the court painter Ding Guanpeng to paint a new set of luohan paintings in the style of Guanxiu, which are now preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. The depiction of the Sixteen Luohan in Guanxiu’s style was also frequently seen on Imperial works of art, such as a massive screen in the Palace Museum.
For other imperially inscribed gilt-decorated spinach-green jade plaques, compare a set of four inscribed with ‘Ode to the Red Cliff’ sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 2014, lot 1245, and another set of eight plaques inscribed with Shiquan laoren zhibao shuo (Disquisition on the Seal of an Old Man of Perfect Completion) sold at Christie’s New York, 14-15 September 2017, lot 1025.