A FINELY CARVED JADEITE BOX AND COVER

Details

A FINELY CARVED JADEITE BOX AND COVER
QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

Of irregular oval section, the small box intricately carved and pierced with three quails pecking at millet sprays, the base supported on a gnarled tree trunk, the rich emerald-green patch on the interior ingeniously carved as a fish swimming among water weeds, the cover similarly carved with quails, the millet stalk attached to a beribboned ruyi sceptre, the translucent stone of mottled apple and emerald-green tones
2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) long, stand

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Urban Hartman, New York

Literature

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 167

Exhibited

Christie's New York, 13-26 March 2001
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 2003 - December 2004

Lot Essay

The design on the present box and cover is not only attractive, but also conveys auspicious messages. Although small, quails are known for their courage, while the word for quail in Chinese, an, provides a homophone for the word for peace. The combination of the quails and the ruyi sceptre forms the auspicious phrase, ping an ruyi, 'peace as one wishes'; while the combined imagery of the quails and millet also qualifies another wish for peace, sui sui ping an.

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