A LARGE PALE CELADON JADE ARCHAISTIC VASE AND COVER

Details

A LARGE PALE CELADON JADE ARCHAISTIC VASE AND COVER
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

The flattened body of oval cross-section, carved in shallow relief on one side with two sages in animated conservation standing beneath a pair of tall pine trees beside jagged cliffs, the other side with two children observing a crane foraging for food, beside a lingzhi spray whilst another crane is in flight above, all below the waisted neck decorated with a band of taotie masks, flanked by a pair of similarly carved cylindrical handles, bordered by keyfret bands, repeated at the mouthrim and on the slightly splayed foot ring, the cover surmounted with a finial carved in openwork to depict a coiled dragon with its chin above a 'flaming pearl'
13 in. (33 cm. ) overall height, stand

Provenance

Daniel L. Gutman, New York
E.G. Smith, London
Sotheby's London, 26 May 1964, lot 13
Christie's London, 5 July 1983, lot 740

Literature

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no.143

Exhibited

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

Lot Essay

While the dragon the finial of the cover and the figural scenes on the body are Qing motifs, the inspiration for the form of the vase is from early bronze wine vessels. Compare with a Western Zhou bronze prototype excavated from a site in Shaanxi, 1976, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua da cidian, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 134, no. 465 with a similar wide band running between the lug handles.

Both the decorative designs and the material used for this vase would point towards an early date in the 18th century as purer white jade only became readily availble later during the Qianlong reign.

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