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Lot Essay
This exquisite jade screen is carved in a beautiful green stone and depicts Xiwangmu, Cao Guojin, Zhang Guolao and two attendants in a heavenly landscape.
Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) is a popular female deity, revered by emperors and common people alike. Although originally she was not a Daoist deity, she was adopted into the pantheon of Highest Purity (Shangqing) Daoism from the Six Dynasties period onwards. Her palace is known for its size and beauty, and for its gardens in which grew a fabulous peach tree. The tree bore magical peaches, which took 3,000 years to ripen, but which conferred immortality upon anyone who ate them. She is shown on our plaque with her phoenix and holding a peach.
The fine, deep carving of this table screen is comparable in style to that found on a table screen showing a scene of Xiwangmu holding a peach and descending on a cloud dated from Qianlong period sold in Christie's New York, 30 March 2005, lot 139.
See a circular plaque illustrating a scene of Xiwangmu seated on a phoenix and holding a peach and sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 22 March 2018, lot 625. Also see a closely-related spinach green jade table screen depicting the luohan with a poetic inscription to the back, dated Qianlong/Jiaqing period, sold in Bonhams London, 12 May 2022, lot 113.
Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) is a popular female deity, revered by emperors and common people alike. Although originally she was not a Daoist deity, she was adopted into the pantheon of Highest Purity (Shangqing) Daoism from the Six Dynasties period onwards. Her palace is known for its size and beauty, and for its gardens in which grew a fabulous peach tree. The tree bore magical peaches, which took 3,000 years to ripen, but which conferred immortality upon anyone who ate them. She is shown on our plaque with her phoenix and holding a peach.
The fine, deep carving of this table screen is comparable in style to that found on a table screen showing a scene of Xiwangmu holding a peach and descending on a cloud dated from Qianlong period sold in Christie's New York, 30 March 2005, lot 139.
See a circular plaque illustrating a scene of Xiwangmu seated on a phoenix and holding a peach and sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 22 March 2018, lot 625. Also see a closely-related spinach green jade table screen depicting the luohan with a poetic inscription to the back, dated Qianlong/Jiaqing period, sold in Bonhams London, 12 May 2022, lot 113.