Footnotes

• Provenance: The House of Jade, New York, purchased in October 1962
  A Canadian private collection
  
  Exhibited: Royal Ontario Museum, Prized Possessions from Private Homes: An Exhibition, Canada, 8 October - 8 December 1968, no.1170
  
  十八世紀 青玉雕仿古龍紋雙鳳耳四足蓋爐
  
  來源: 於1962年10月購自紐約The House of Jade
  加拿大私人收藏
  
  展覽: 於1968年10月8日至12月8日皇家安大略博物館Prized Possessions from Private Homes: An Exhibition展出，並著錄於圖錄編號1170
  
  The form of this type of vessel, with four cylindrical legs supporting a square body, whilst familiar from Qing dynasty pieces, was highly unusual in earliest times. Like many Chinese jade forms, it derives from the archaic bronze tradition, but only a few examples of this form in archaic bronze are published. One such piece is illustrated by W.Tao, Chinese Bronzes from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2009, no.127, where the author notes that the unusual form indicates a different function from other ritual food vessels, and speculates that it may have served as a pigment container. It is interesting to note that this type of vessel was also made from jade during the archaic periods of the late Shang to early Western Zhou: see an article by Prof. Ch'eng Te-k'un, The T'u-lu Colour-Container of the Shang-Chou Period, in the Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1965, vol.37, pp.239-50.
  
  A related four-legged vessel but with shorter legs and animal-head ring handles from the Qing Court Collection shows the same design of dragons rising above waves and is illustrated in the The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, no.156. Another example but in spinach jade is illustrated by S.C.Nott, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Japan, 1962, pl.CXIII.

Lot heading

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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