YONGZHENG PERIOD (1723-1735)

The figure depicted on the dish is Su Wu, a Western Han diplomat and politician, celebrated for his virtue of loyalty and bravery in Chinese history. On his diplomatic mission to the foreign territory of the Xiongnu as an ambassador, Su Wu was captured and detained for nineteen years. Regardless of the hardship endured during his captivity, Su Wu refused to surrender and remained loyal and faithful to his mission and Emperor Wu of Han. It was known that Su Wu served long years of herding sheep before managing to return home; this famous story is depicted on the present lot. The unusually shaped herding stick held by Su Wu is known as jie, also shown in the present lot; it is made with bamboo and decorated with three knots of yak tail. Such jie could only be bestowed by the Emperor; it not only serves as the pledge of the Emperor, but also represents the nation.