CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, ÉPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)

This exceptional pair of white jade table screens would have been ideal for the scholar's table, and it is perhaps due to this particular function that screens of this type often depict scenes of immortals, scholars, or the refined pleasures of the literati class. The tranquil subject matter of scholars in a mountainous landscape would have provided stimulus for the scholar upon whose table it was placed. It has been suggested that table screens may have drawn inspiration from the cut and polished plaques of figured white marble which were traditionally framed and hung in a scholar's studio.
By the Qing dynasty table screens were made in a wide range of materials, including porcelain, lacquer, ivory and jade. Jade table-screens, like the current example, were particularly valued by connoisseurs. The paleness and evenness of the stone used for the current table screens add an elegant subtlety to its decoration, which has been chosen both for its aesthetic appeal and also for its auspicious elusions. For example, the pine song, and the cypress bai are both symbols of longevity and together suggest the phrase songbai tongchun 'may you, like the pine and cypress, enjoy eternal spring'. Whereas the deer is a symbol both of longevity and of an official salary. In addition, because the word for deer is lu, two deer suggest the phrase lulu shunli 'may all the roads be smooth'. Thus the iconography of this pair of table-screens wishes its recipient a long, successful, fortunate and peaceful life.