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Lot Essay
The present vase follows the archaic bronze prototype, fanggu, a type of wine vessel used in the rituals of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. By the Qing period, archaic forms and motifs found great popularity at court and a number of jade vessels, such as the present example, were produced to reflect the fashion of the period.
The present vase is carved out from one piece of jade, instead of constructed in sections as many comparable examples from this period are. This vase is further distinguished by its exceptional white and even material, which is on a par with the finest examples preserved in the Qing court collection, such as a slightly taller white jade gu-form vase (24.3 cm. high) with Qianlong fanggu-mark but without flanges in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 1997, no. 11. Compare also with a few other jade gu-form vases of varying sizes, shapes and types of jades in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum -
Jadeware, III, Hong Kong, 1995, nos. 130-134, of which no. 133, a celadon jade example (24.6 cm. high), is most similar in form to the present vase, though its quality and colour pale in comparison (fig. 1).
The present vase is carved out from one piece of jade, instead of constructed in sections as many comparable examples from this period are. This vase is further distinguished by its exceptional white and even material, which is on a par with the finest examples preserved in the Qing court collection, such as a slightly taller white jade gu-form vase (24.3 cm. high) with Qianlong fanggu-mark but without flanges in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 1997, no. 11. Compare also with a few other jade gu-form vases of varying sizes, shapes and types of jades in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum -
Jadeware, III, Hong Kong, 1995, nos. 130-134, of which no. 133, a celadon jade example (24.6 cm. high), is most similar in form to the present vase, though its quality and colour pale in comparison (fig. 1).