Lot 2088
2088
A FINELY CARVED SPINACH-GREEN JADE MARRIAGE BOWL
THE PROPERTY OF A HONG KONG COLLECTOR
A FINELY CARVED SPINACH-GREEN JADE MARRIAGE BOWL

Details
A FINELY CARVED SPINACH-GREEN JADE MARRIAGE BOWL
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

The rounded sides carved in shallow relief with scrolling lotus, flanked on either side with a pair of openwork butterfly-form handles with wings outspread on the mouth rim, each of the insects with its exaggerated tail extending into a loop and suspending a loose ring, the interior carved in high relief with melons growing on leafy branches, all supported on four evenly spaced low bracket-form feet, the underside base bearing the reign mark, the stone of characteristic semi-translucent mossy green tone with areas of mottling, the base with an incised Qianlong four-character mark
11 in. (28 cm.) wide
Exhibited
Hong Kong, Auspicious Emblems, Chinese Cultural Treasures, 45th Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, 2005, p. 149, no. 58

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Lot Essay

The motifs of the butterflies (die) and melons (gua) form the rebus Guadie mian mian, purveying the wish for ceaseless generations of sons and grandsons which originated in the Chinese classic, Book of Odes. The phrase later played an important part in the New Year's Eve ceremony in the household of the Manchu prince, Jin Shishui, who recorded in his autobiography Life in a Princely Household, that butterflies and melons were reared in hothouses in his family's garden until New Year's Eve, cf. T. Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. 62.

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