QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A SUPERB WHITE JADE ARCHAISTIC VASE AND COVER
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The compressed pear-shaped vase is well carved in low relief on both sides with a central stylised bat and ruyi, surrounded by panels incorporating archaistic scrollwork, set with scroll handles on the shoulder and supported on an oval foot. The oval cover is carved with similar scrollwork and surmounted by a finial in the form of a qilin with lingzhi in its mouth. The stone is of a mottled white tone with minor russet and milky inclusions.
10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) high, box

Provenance

T. B. Kitson Collection
Sold at Sotheby's London, 18 October 1960, lot 140; Sotheby's London, 6 December 1994, lot 54; Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1 May 2001, lot 609

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Lot Essay

While the shape of this vase is loosely based on archaic bronzes, it is the carved decoration which is the most reminiscent of the bronze vessels of the late Zhou and Han periods cast in low relief and inlaid with gold or silver. One example of the bronze prototype is a hu adorned with silver-inlaid interlacing scrollwork above ruyi heads, dated to the late Warring States period and excavated in Sichuan, illustrated in Bronze (II), Zhongguo meishu quanji, Beijing, 1986, pl. 160.

Compare to a Qianlong period white jade vase of similar shape and size and carved with archaistic motifs, from the De An Tang Collection, illustrated in A Romance with Jade, Beijing, 2004, pl. 37.

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