QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

The plaque is carved at the top with the mythical Garuda bird, the bottom with a dragon, and the centre with a boy holding a ruyi sceptre standing on swirling clouds. The front is further carved with the Ten Celestial Stems and the eight trigrams of qian (Heaven) and kun (Earth); the reverse bears the Twelve Terrestrial Branches. For a closely related white jade rectangular plaque of comparable form and design, see one in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no. guwu001042N (fig. 1).