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Lot Essay
The long inscription contains an imperial poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor which is published in Qing Gaozong Yuzhi Shiwen Quanji (1), leshantang, vol. 1, The National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976. This morally didactic poem states that rectitude is the foundation of everything, a principle bestowed by the heavens that should be followed by all those on earth. It purports that men should strive to achieve rectitude of the highest level, despite our weaknesses caused by selfishness and ignorance.
A similar white jade and rosewood hat stand, also carved with dragons and decorated with a Qianlong imperial poem, is in the British Museum in London, illustrated in the Oriental Ceramics Society exhibition catalogue Chinese Jade throughout the Ages, London, 1975, no. 463. A pair of comparable jade hat stands is in the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, pl. 85. Also see a jade and jichimu hat stand with imperial poems which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 3 June 1987, lot 292 and again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 2166.
A similar white jade and rosewood hat stand, also carved with dragons and decorated with a Qianlong imperial poem, is in the British Museum in London, illustrated in the Oriental Ceramics Society exhibition catalogue Chinese Jade throughout the Ages, London, 1975, no. 463. A pair of comparable jade hat stands is in the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, pl. 85. Also see a jade and jichimu hat stand with imperial poems which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 3 June 1987, lot 292 and again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 2166.