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Lot Essay
The Emperor Qianlong greatly admired archaic Chinese jade carvings, but the contemporary jades for which he reserved his greatest praise were not Chinese, but those he termed 'Hindustan' (Hendusitan or Wendusitan) jades. Such was his fascination with these foreign jades that in AD 1768 he wrote a scholarly text, entitled Tianzhu wuyindu kao'e, on the geography of Hindustan and the derivation of its name. The area he identified was in what is now northern India centering on the city of Agra. In the seventeenth century this area was part of the Mughal Empire and thus the jades from this region are today often referred to as 'Mughal' jades. These 'Mughal' jades were so highly regarded by the Qianlong Emperor that lapidaries working for the Chinese court were commissioned to make jade items in Mughal style.
The decoration on the current jar shares many features with other Hindustan jades. The handles formed from pendent flower buds may be seen on several items of different shapes in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum, 1983, pls. 6, 7, 8, 47, 58 and 59 and also on a jar in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Jadeware III, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 285, no. 7.
The artistic device of forming the foot of the vessel as an open flower is also characteristic of these fine 'Hindustan' jades. The foot on the current vessel is particularly attractive since it adds a little height to the compressed form and is particularly well defined. The decoration of acanthus leaves is one of the most popular on these Mughal jades. The two acanthus leaf bands on the current jar are delicately and realistically carved. Their three-dimensional appearance is enhanced by the technique of depicting the edges of some leaves curling inwards, while they are given movement by being carved in at a slightly oblique angle. Compare with a closely related example with a long Imperial inscription bearing a date corresponding to1783, sold at Christie's London, 12 November 2002, lot 54.
The decoration on the current jar shares many features with other Hindustan jades. The handles formed from pendent flower buds may be seen on several items of different shapes in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum, 1983, pls. 6, 7, 8, 47, 58 and 59 and also on a jar in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Jadeware III, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 285, no. 7.
The artistic device of forming the foot of the vessel as an open flower is also characteristic of these fine 'Hindustan' jades. The foot on the current vessel is particularly attractive since it adds a little height to the compressed form and is particularly well defined. The decoration of acanthus leaves is one of the most popular on these Mughal jades. The two acanthus leaf bands on the current jar are delicately and realistically carved. Their three-dimensional appearance is enhanced by the technique of depicting the edges of some leaves curling inwards, while they are given movement by being carved in at a slightly oblique angle. Compare with a closely related example with a long Imperial inscription bearing a date corresponding to1783, sold at Christie's London, 12 November 2002, lot 54.