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Lot Essay
THE FAGEN JADES
An Extraordinary Group of Massive Green Jade Vessels
The following group of massive green jade vessels, along with the imperial Yongzheng-period jade tablet book, lot 1197, and lots 1198-1200, from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco were bequeathed to the Museums by the American sugar heiress Helene Irwin Fagan (1887-1966). The group comprises a pair of double-gourd ewers and covers, a pair of ladles, and a basin. Each vessel bears the reign mark of the Qianlong Emperor and exhibits an opulent luxurious use of precious green jade.
Spinach-green jade plays an important role in the history of the Qianlong Emperor’s (r. 1736-1795) court. In 1759, Qianlong expanded his empire to include the northwest province of Xinjiang and ordered his bannermen to look for sources of jade in this newly-conquered province. Before this time, jade was considered a foreign tribute rather than a local product, but now that jade could be sourced from a province within the empire, this connotation would change going forward. In 1762, the bannermen found 1,514 jin (a unit of weight) of jade stone, much of which was of a distinctive ‘green jade’ color, and sent it to Suzhou to be carved into Imperial articles. On August 3rd, 1761, Prince Zhuang, a first-rank prince of the Qianlong period, claimed that “[n]o stone […] would be better for crafting the chimes [for the Confucian ritual of the winter solstice] than the beautiful nephrite jade mined from the newly pacified territory of Xinjiang.” (See Yulian Wu, “Chimes of Empire: The Construction of Jade Instruments and Territory in Eighteenth-Century China,” Late Imperial China, Vol. 40, No. 1, June 2019, 43). Thus, for the Qianlong Emperor, jade was associated with both Confucian ritual culture and the successes of ruling power.
A plethora of Imperial spinach-green jade objects, all likely crafted out of the jade from the newly-discovered 1762 quarry, emerged soon after this time. Most notably, a large group of dated Qianlong-period spinach-green jade chimes that includes an example, dated by inscription to 1764, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot 2941. (Fig. 1) Other spinach-jade chimes with the same 1764 date include one exhibited in China Institute in America, Chinese Jade through the Centuries, New York, 1968, no. 66; one from the Baron Antoine Allard Collection, sold at Sotheby's Paris, 10 June 2014, lot 80; and another example sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8-9 November 1982, lot 362. Also noteworthy is a large group of dishes, bowls, and cups all carved from similar green jade and inscribed with Qianlong seal marks, such as the group of six vessels deaccessioned from the Art Institute of Chicago and sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2007, lot 108, and the group of eight, also deaccessioned from the Art Institute of Chicago, sold at Christie’s New York, 2 September 2001, lot 313. A single Qianlong mark-and-period bowl carved from similar green jade is illustrated in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series – Jades, Beijing, 2002, no. 236.
In addition to the spinach green jade chimes, this distinctive green Xinjiang jade was used to make other massive articles, such as vessels, including the example densely carved with dragons amidst clouds and water and set on a zitan stand, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji - 6 - Qing, Hebi, 1991, p. 175 and 325, no. 252. This vessel is also illustrated by Yang Boda, ed., Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, vol. 12, Qing Dynasty, 1996, no. 2.(Fig. 2) This Palace Museum basin is inscribed with various couplets from officials and scholars praising the material and noting that it came from Xinjiang. The basin is inscribed with a Qianlong mark and a date (1770), but the author notes that work commenced on this basin in the Palace workshops in 1973 and it required an impressive six years for completion. The lengthy inscriptions and lengthy completion times for this basin further demonstrates the extensive resources, material and appreciation awarded to spinach green jades during this time. Another green jade basin of similar material and massive size, also carved with dragons, currently displayed in Le Shou Tang, is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, accession number 00199325. The website notes that this vessel was carved from jade from Xinjiang, and that it took four years to complete and was finished in the 45th year of the Qianlong reign, corresponding to 1780. The similarity in stone, size and mark between this basin and the Fagan jades places the Fagan jades amongst this elite and highly prized group of Imperial mid-Qianlong-period spinach-green jade vessels.
The Fagan jade basin carved with lotus scroll is of almost identical form to a slightly larger Qianlong-marked basin (56.5 cm.) fashioned from similar stone and with similar satiny polish from the Yale University Art Gallery, illustrated by Denise Leidy, “Chinese Jades: Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery,” Arts of Asia, May-June 2020, pp. 30-31, no. 22m. (Fig. 3) The Yale basin is inscribed on the base with a large Qianlong six-character seal mark within a square that is identical to the seal mark on the Fagan basin. The Yale basin, however, is undecorated on the exterior and is inscribed with numerous poems and odes on the interior, showcasing its status as an imperial object. This inscription illustrates the significant reception of this basin at court, and records twenty-eight poems praising the basin, written by court ministers and members of the Imperial Academy under the supervision of Yu Minzhong (1714-1780), who served as Minister of State from 1760. As Leidy notes, other poems inscribed in the basin were authored by Fu Heng (1722-1770), the younger brother of Qianlong’s first empress, Su Hede (1710-1772), Dong Banda (1696-1769), and Liu Xingwei (1718-1772). The poems and the basin were likely finished around 1766, which is just two years after the aforementioned 1764 chimes, and just four years after the Xinjiang quarry was discovered and mined. Given the likely completion date of 1766 and similar material, it could indicate that this basin and the Fagen green jades were made around the same time.
Another massive circular jade basin, of a slightly larger size (65.3 cm.) and with an everted rim, is inscribed and dated to the renwu year of the Qianlong period, corresponding to 1762, and is illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Qing, Hebei, 1991, p. 46 and p. 275, nos. 76 and 77. (Fig. 4) The material, style of carving and polish are all very similar to that of the Fagan basin. The author states that this basin showcases the bold style and carving of Xinjiang jades.
The double-gourd ewers in the group have related examples in other materials, including a gold ewer of similar form, also with dragon-heads adoring the handle and spout, illustrated in Qinggong Yanyue Cangzhen (The Qing Palace Banquet Treasures), Beijing, 2002, p. 7, no. 22. (Fig. 5) Such ewers were usually made in pairs, and it is speculated that these ewers were made to contain wine. The rendering of the dragon heads on the present ewers is similar to that on the aforementioned Palace Museum basin dated to 1770.
The high Imperial favor for spinach-green jades during the Qianlong reign are evidenced in the abundant quantity of large-scale spinach-green jades with Imperial marks, dates, and inscriptions. Of comparable size and material, and also bearing the Qianlong marks, the Fagan jade vessels likely belong to this well-documented group of highly-prized vessels.
An Extraordinary Group of Massive Green Jade Vessels
The following group of massive green jade vessels, along with the imperial Yongzheng-period jade tablet book, lot 1197, and lots 1198-1200, from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco were bequeathed to the Museums by the American sugar heiress Helene Irwin Fagan (1887-1966). The group comprises a pair of double-gourd ewers and covers, a pair of ladles, and a basin. Each vessel bears the reign mark of the Qianlong Emperor and exhibits an opulent luxurious use of precious green jade.
Spinach-green jade plays an important role in the history of the Qianlong Emperor’s (r. 1736-1795) court. In 1759, Qianlong expanded his empire to include the northwest province of Xinjiang and ordered his bannermen to look for sources of jade in this newly-conquered province. Before this time, jade was considered a foreign tribute rather than a local product, but now that jade could be sourced from a province within the empire, this connotation would change going forward. In 1762, the bannermen found 1,514 jin (a unit of weight) of jade stone, much of which was of a distinctive ‘green jade’ color, and sent it to Suzhou to be carved into Imperial articles. On August 3rd, 1761, Prince Zhuang, a first-rank prince of the Qianlong period, claimed that “[n]o stone […] would be better for crafting the chimes [for the Confucian ritual of the winter solstice] than the beautiful nephrite jade mined from the newly pacified territory of Xinjiang.” (See Yulian Wu, “Chimes of Empire: The Construction of Jade Instruments and Territory in Eighteenth-Century China,” Late Imperial China, Vol. 40, No. 1, June 2019, 43). Thus, for the Qianlong Emperor, jade was associated with both Confucian ritual culture and the successes of ruling power.
A plethora of Imperial spinach-green jade objects, all likely crafted out of the jade from the newly-discovered 1762 quarry, emerged soon after this time. Most notably, a large group of dated Qianlong-period spinach-green jade chimes that includes an example, dated by inscription to 1764, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot 2941. (Fig. 1) Other spinach-jade chimes with the same 1764 date include one exhibited in China Institute in America, Chinese Jade through the Centuries, New York, 1968, no. 66; one from the Baron Antoine Allard Collection, sold at Sotheby's Paris, 10 June 2014, lot 80; and another example sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8-9 November 1982, lot 362. Also noteworthy is a large group of dishes, bowls, and cups all carved from similar green jade and inscribed with Qianlong seal marks, such as the group of six vessels deaccessioned from the Art Institute of Chicago and sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2007, lot 108, and the group of eight, also deaccessioned from the Art Institute of Chicago, sold at Christie’s New York, 2 September 2001, lot 313. A single Qianlong mark-and-period bowl carved from similar green jade is illustrated in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series – Jades, Beijing, 2002, no. 236.
In addition to the spinach green jade chimes, this distinctive green Xinjiang jade was used to make other massive articles, such as vessels, including the example densely carved with dragons amidst clouds and water and set on a zitan stand, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji - 6 - Qing, Hebi, 1991, p. 175 and 325, no. 252. This vessel is also illustrated by Yang Boda, ed., Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, vol. 12, Qing Dynasty, 1996, no. 2.(Fig. 2) This Palace Museum basin is inscribed with various couplets from officials and scholars praising the material and noting that it came from Xinjiang. The basin is inscribed with a Qianlong mark and a date (1770), but the author notes that work commenced on this basin in the Palace workshops in 1973 and it required an impressive six years for completion. The lengthy inscriptions and lengthy completion times for this basin further demonstrates the extensive resources, material and appreciation awarded to spinach green jades during this time. Another green jade basin of similar material and massive size, also carved with dragons, currently displayed in Le Shou Tang, is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, accession number 00199325. The website notes that this vessel was carved from jade from Xinjiang, and that it took four years to complete and was finished in the 45th year of the Qianlong reign, corresponding to 1780. The similarity in stone, size and mark between this basin and the Fagan jades places the Fagan jades amongst this elite and highly prized group of Imperial mid-Qianlong-period spinach-green jade vessels.
The Fagan jade basin carved with lotus scroll is of almost identical form to a slightly larger Qianlong-marked basin (56.5 cm.) fashioned from similar stone and with similar satiny polish from the Yale University Art Gallery, illustrated by Denise Leidy, “Chinese Jades: Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery,” Arts of Asia, May-June 2020, pp. 30-31, no. 22m. (Fig. 3) The Yale basin is inscribed on the base with a large Qianlong six-character seal mark within a square that is identical to the seal mark on the Fagan basin. The Yale basin, however, is undecorated on the exterior and is inscribed with numerous poems and odes on the interior, showcasing its status as an imperial object. This inscription illustrates the significant reception of this basin at court, and records twenty-eight poems praising the basin, written by court ministers and members of the Imperial Academy under the supervision of Yu Minzhong (1714-1780), who served as Minister of State from 1760. As Leidy notes, other poems inscribed in the basin were authored by Fu Heng (1722-1770), the younger brother of Qianlong’s first empress, Su Hede (1710-1772), Dong Banda (1696-1769), and Liu Xingwei (1718-1772). The poems and the basin were likely finished around 1766, which is just two years after the aforementioned 1764 chimes, and just four years after the Xinjiang quarry was discovered and mined. Given the likely completion date of 1766 and similar material, it could indicate that this basin and the Fagen green jades were made around the same time.
Another massive circular jade basin, of a slightly larger size (65.3 cm.) and with an everted rim, is inscribed and dated to the renwu year of the Qianlong period, corresponding to 1762, and is illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Qing, Hebei, 1991, p. 46 and p. 275, nos. 76 and 77. (Fig. 4) The material, style of carving and polish are all very similar to that of the Fagan basin. The author states that this basin showcases the bold style and carving of Xinjiang jades.
The double-gourd ewers in the group have related examples in other materials, including a gold ewer of similar form, also with dragon-heads adoring the handle and spout, illustrated in Qinggong Yanyue Cangzhen (The Qing Palace Banquet Treasures), Beijing, 2002, p. 7, no. 22. (Fig. 5) Such ewers were usually made in pairs, and it is speculated that these ewers were made to contain wine. The rendering of the dragon heads on the present ewers is similar to that on the aforementioned Palace Museum basin dated to 1770.
The high Imperial favor for spinach-green jades during the Qianlong reign are evidenced in the abundant quantity of large-scale spinach-green jades with Imperial marks, dates, and inscriptions. Of comparable size and material, and also bearing the Qianlong marks, the Fagan jade vessels likely belong to this well-documented group of highly-prized vessels.