Footnotes

• Provenance 來源:
  Spink & Son Ltd., London, 7 April 1988
  
  Illustrated 出版:
  Yang Boda, The Glorious Age of Chinese Jades, in Roger Keverne (ed.) Jade, London, 1991, p.183, fig.138
  
  The current lot is representative of some of the highest quality workmanship on jade in the Imperial ateliers during the Qianlong period. Only a small number of examples of table screens of such calibre is recorded, and it is probable that this screen once graced the desk of a high-ranking official or member of the Imperial family. The landscape scenes are highly evocative, drawing the viewers in with a hypnotic feeling of grandeur, and, as Carol Michaelson argues in the introduction, enabling a desk-bound official to indirectly experience the rural idyll, "dreaming himself into the sort of scenery of the place he would like to retire to".
  
  An almost identical Imperial spinach jade circular table screen featuring the scene of Shoulao greeting Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West), from the Sir John William Buchanan-Jardine (1900-1969) collection, was sold in these rooms, 4 December 2008, lot 204 (fig.1). Compare another spinach jade circular table screen depicting Shoulao greeting Xiwangmu in the Sir John Mullens collection, illustrated by Stanley C. Nott, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages. A Review of Its Characteristics, Decoration, Folklore and Symbolism, Tokyo, 1962, p.147, pl.CXXX. See also a spinach green jade 'peony' circular screen with a very similar wood stand to the current lot from the Heber R. Bishop (1840-1902) collection (fig.2), housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 02.18.469.
  
  Yang Boda, emeritus Director of the Palace Museum, Beijing, specifically refers to this piece in The Glorious Age of Chinese Jades, London, 1991, p.183, as 'a superb example of 18th century jade-workmanship, a kind typically found in the Imperial Palace, Beijing'.
  
  清乾隆 碧玉雕獵虎圖插屏
  
  碧玉玉質，玉色深綠，略有透明感，間有色澤溫潤的黑色斑點。插屏圓形，一面浮雕狩獵圖，遠處群山峻嶺，山林間見六人騎馬狩獵，其中兩人一手握三叉長戟，一揮舞流星錘，正於一猛虎搏鬥周旋。一人手持弓箭，拔尖弩張，另外兩人手持長戟和弓箭追趕其後。山崖深處，另一獵手正騎馬而來。插屏另一面則雕四匹駿馬憩息山間，畫面安詳平靜，與狩獵圖刻畫之緊張氣氛形成鮮明對比。原配鏤雕紫檀嵌木座。
  
  此插屏來自英國Spink & Son公司，並出版於Roger Keverne編，《Jade》，倫敦，1991年，頁183，圖版138，楊伯達在書中將此插屏描述為「18世紀清宮玉器最精美作品之一」。清初滿人入關，皇帝希望滿洲八旗子弟保持民族特色。順治、康熙、乾隆皇帝均從小就得練習騎射，據說在順治出生的永福宮中，搖籃旁邊掛着一套小弓箭，騎射可謂是滿足人的「幼教」。據文獻記載，乾隆皇帝在12歲便隨祖父康熙皇帝到永安莾喀圍場騎馬狩獵。大清盛世之時，起源於滿族的狩獵文化在皇宮中佔據重要地位，後清廷設立木蘭秋狝制度，不僅可以使八旗官兵練習騎射，更密切清廷與蒙族的關係，鞏固邊疆政治。虎並不是中原土生動物，多在北方邊疆地區較為多見，皇帝借每次木蘭秋狝之際接見蒙古各部王宮貴族，因此獵虎活一般只有王宮貴族成員才能參與。
  
  參見John William Buchanan-Jardine爵士（1900-1969）舊藏的一件清乾隆碧玉王母賀壽圖插屏，後於香港邦瀚斯2008年12月4日拍賣，拍品204，雖器形雖小，但雕工類似（fig.1）。另參見John Mullens爵士舊藏一件乾隆碧玉蟠桃盛宴圖插屏，見Stanley C. Nott編，《Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages. A Review of Its Characteristics, Decoration, Folklore and Symbolism》，東京，1962年，頁147，圖版CXXX。 該插屏所配紫檀木作做工精緻，見現藏於紐約大都會博物館，原Heber R. Bishop收藏一件碧玉雕牡丹插屏，其原配木座與該獵虎圖插屏幾乎一致（fig.2），藏品編號02.18.469.

Category: Asian Art