18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

A WHITE JADE FINGER CITRON-FORM BOX AND A COVER
18TH/19TH CENTURY
The shallow box well carved as half of a finger citron borne on a leafy, gnarled branch, the matching cover with long, tapering 'fingers' carved as the other half of the citron
5 in. (12.7 cm.) long, zitan stand

Provenance

C.T. Loo & Co., New York.

Exhibited

C.T. Loo & Co., Exhibition of Chinese Arts, New York, 1 November 1941 - 30 April 1942, no. 305.

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Lot Essay

Finger citrons are not edible unless preserved with salt or sugar, but were known to have been used by Empress Cixi to fragrance rooms in the Palace. Their auspicious symbolism derives from the play on the Chinese word for finger citron, foshou, homophonous with the words for blessings, fu, and longevity, shou. Because of this, they were a popular subject in jade carvings of the Qing dynasty. See, for example, the much larger (22 cm.) jade finger citron sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30 November 2011, lot 2904.

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