QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

While the shape of this vase is loosely based on archaic bronzes, it is the carved decoration which is the most reminiscent of the bronze vessels of the late Zhou and Han periods cast in low relief and inlaid with gold or silver. One example of the bronze prototype is a hu adorned with silver-inlaid interlacing scrollwork above ruyi heads, dated to the late Warring States period and excavated in Sichuan, illustrated in Bronze (II), Zhongguo meishu quanji, Beijing, 1986, pl. 160.

Compare to a Qianlong period white jade vase of similar shape and size and carved with archaistic motifs, from the De An Tang Collection, illustrated in A Romance with Jade, Beijing, 2004, pl. 37.