A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL AQUAMARINE GLASS JAR, ZHADOU
A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL AQUAMARINE GLASS JAR, ZHADOU
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THE PROPERTY OF AN ASIAN GENTLEMAN
A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL AQUAMARINE GLASS JAR, ZHADOU

QIANLONG YUZHI INCISED SEALMARK WITHIN DOUBLE-SQUARES AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details
A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL AQUAMARINE GLASS JAR, ZHADOU
QIANLONG YUZHI INCISED SEALMARK WITHIN DOUBLE-SQUARES AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The ovoid lower body rising to a gently flared neck and an everted mouthrim, finely carved in relief around the exterior with two stylised taotie-masks, each alternating with a pair of confronted dragons bound together by the fore and hind paws, and a pair of similarly carved confronted phoenix, all above a band of overlapping leaves, bordered by a band of pendant ruyi-heads below the mouthrim and lappets around the base above the footring, the base bearing the four-character mark, the transparent metal of a blue-green tone
4 in. (10.2 cm.) high, box
Provenance
The Hope Danby Collection
Previously sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2005, lot 1271
Exhibited
Exhibition of Chinese Glass: The Hope Danby Collection, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1999, pp. 14 and 15, no. 2 and cover

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Lot Essay

Yuzhi marks on glassware are very rare and only a few other examples appear to have been published, one being the winecup enamelled with a famille rose palette on an opalescent white ground, bearing a Kangxi Yuzhi mark from the Barbara Hutton collection, illustrated by H. Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 33; and later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 22 March 1993, lot 586.

The unusual decorative motif on this zhadou is related to those on ceramics, particularly the 'linked' design of the pairs of dragons and phoenix, and jade carvings. Compare a famille rose basin decorated with a pair of similarly confronted descending dragons with their tails embraced by a circular loop, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in the Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Dragon-motif Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, no. 93. Also compare the comma-like design along the body of the dragon and phoenix with formalised archaistic design carved on a Qianlong Yuzhi-marked jade snuff bottle, illustrated by H. Moss, V. Graham and K. Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J&J Collection, New York, 1993, vol. 1, no. 32.

Similar dragons appear on a Qianlong-marked red glass phoenix ewer in the collection of Walter and Phyllis Shorenstein, illustrated in C. Shangraw and D. Rabiner, A Chorus of Colors, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1995, no. 81; and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2928.

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