QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

It is very rare to find a jade animal or bird carving bearing a Qianlong mark. This carving may have been intended as a gift, as the motif of two peaches represents the wish, “may you live long” (changshou). This motif can also be seen in two earlier jade carvings. One is illustrated in Dr. Newton’s Zoo: A Study of post-Archaic Small Jade Carvings, Bluett & Sons Ltd., London, 1981, pp. 18-19, no. 21 and Pl. IV, where it is dated Tang dynasty; the other described as a phoenix and dated Song, is illustrated by James C. Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, The Asia Society, 1980, p. 96, no. 80. A white and russet jade carving of two birds facing each other (11.5 cm.), which exhibits carving very similar to the present figure, in the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 102, pl. 82.