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Lot Essay
It is very rare to find a pair of jade boxes of this size, which would have to have been carved from a very large boulder of stone of even colour throughout.
The Qianlong Emperor (r.1736-95) was renowned for his patronage and appreciation of the arts. One of his great passions was jade, and among those items he particularly treasured were some he termed 'Hindustan' (Hendusitan or Wendusitan) jades. Such was his fascination with these foreign jades that in 1768 he wrote a scholarly text on the geography of Hindustan and the derivation of its name, identifying an area in what is now northern India centering on the city of Agra. In the eighteenth century this area was part of the Mughal Empire and thus the jades are today often referred to as 'Mughal' jades. Jade carving had reached new heights under the rule of the great Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1627-58), and it was this style that appears to have particularly appealed to the Qianlong Emperor, although he also collected jades from other parts of the Muslim world.
The current boxes are carved in a very similar style to Mughal-style 'chrysanthemum' dishes. Compare for instance a spinach-green jade dish carved with rows of fluted petals radiating from the centre in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Jade, vol. 9, Beijing, p. 176, no. 305. See also a pair of pale celadon jade 'chrysanthemum' dishes sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30 November 2011, lot 3267. The current lot is however, more thickly carved than such dishes which are usually thin and semi-transluscent.
The Qianlong Emperor (r.1736-95) was renowned for his patronage and appreciation of the arts. One of his great passions was jade, and among those items he particularly treasured were some he termed 'Hindustan' (Hendusitan or Wendusitan) jades. Such was his fascination with these foreign jades that in 1768 he wrote a scholarly text on the geography of Hindustan and the derivation of its name, identifying an area in what is now northern India centering on the city of Agra. In the eighteenth century this area was part of the Mughal Empire and thus the jades are today often referred to as 'Mughal' jades. Jade carving had reached new heights under the rule of the great Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1627-58), and it was this style that appears to have particularly appealed to the Qianlong Emperor, although he also collected jades from other parts of the Muslim world.
The current boxes are carved in a very similar style to Mughal-style 'chrysanthemum' dishes. Compare for instance a spinach-green jade dish carved with rows of fluted petals radiating from the centre in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Jade, vol. 9, Beijing, p. 176, no. 305. See also a pair of pale celadon jade 'chrysanthemum' dishes sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30 November 2011, lot 3267. The current lot is however, more thickly carved than such dishes which are usually thin and semi-transluscent.