18TH CENTURY

The warm-toned white marble is crisply carved and has an attractive patina. The rectangular shape and floral decoration on the sides are similar to that of a larger stone planter illustrated by David Ren and Wenfu Ding in Zhongguo gu dai shang shi (Classical Chinese Rocks), Beijing, 2002, pp. 280-81, which is shown displaying a garden rock, and which is dated as possibly as late as the Qing dynasty. The side illustrated is carved with ribbon-tied lotus stems. The shape is also known in other materials, including Junyao, such as the ‘narcissus’ bowl illustrated in The Multiplicity of Simplicity: Monochrome Wares from the Song to the Yuan Dynasty, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 242-43, no. 97.