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Lot Essay
The five characters on the shoulder may be translated, 'Finest Spring Water Under Heaven.' The inscriptions on the sides are copied from text written by the Qianlong emperor. The shorter of the two, dated to the renwu year (1762), is a poem on the theme of the Zhongleng spring; the longer inscription is an ode inspired by the emperor's visit to the spring and having tasted its fresh water at the source.
Based on the inscriptions and the five characters on the shoulder, the jar appears to have been made to hold water, and the manner in which the cover fits into the neck, like a stopper, would keep the contents well sealed and therefore pure.
A very similar jar with cover, in the National Museum of China Collection, is illustrated in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan Guancang Yanjiu Congshu - Ciqi Juan - Qing Dai, Shanghai, 2007, pp. 218-19, no. 146. Another very similar example was sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2002, lot 215.
Based on the inscriptions and the five characters on the shoulder, the jar appears to have been made to hold water, and the manner in which the cover fits into the neck, like a stopper, would keep the contents well sealed and therefore pure.
A very similar jar with cover, in the National Museum of China Collection, is illustrated in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan Guancang Yanjiu Congshu - Ciqi Juan - Qing Dai, Shanghai, 2007, pp. 218-19, no. 146. Another very similar example was sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2002, lot 215.