Bonhams 1793 : An Imperial pale green jade mountain Qianlong

A pale green jade mountain with zitan inlaid stand Qing dynasty

24 Nov 2012 15:00 CST Hong Kong
A Private North American Collection of Scholar's Objects
Back to auction 20909

An Imperial pale green jade mountain

Qianlong
The stone impressively worked in high relief and with intricate details, featuring a hollowed mountainous scene with rocky boulders, pine trees and plum blossom, depicting an elderly figure traversing over steps towards the windswept caves, greeting a woodcutter wearing a hat and carrying a qin, a sampan moored within an underwater cave at the sides, original Imperial zitan stand.
14.7cm wide. (2).

Estimate:

HK$ 300,000 - 500,000
US$ 39,000 - 64,000
£25,000 - 41,000

Footnotes

Provenance 來源:
A private Texan collection

Yu Boya was an historical figure from the state of Chu during the Warring States era. He was an advisor to the state of Jin and was famed for his skills with the musical instrument qin. For many years, Yu searched for a soul who comprehended his musical tune, but could never find a counterpart that shared his vision. One day, whilst playing qin on a raft on his way back to the state of Chu, he met a woodcutter named Zhong Ziyi when passing the shores of the Hanyang River. Zhong immediately understood the deep meaning of the musicand Yu was overjoyed. Not long after, Zhong passed away. Yu was heartbroken by the news and broke his qin, vowing never to play the musical instrument again.

The current lot is offered with its original Imperial zitan stand, elaborately carved with a scene of bamboo growth amongst rockworks and crashing waves, all above a band of silver-inlaid keyfret scrolls at the base. A comparable zitan stand supporting a jade boulder featuring figures in a landscape from the Qing court collection is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in Jadeware II. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2008, pp.68-69, no.51.

清乾隆御製青白玉雕子期遇伯牙山子

玉呈青白，帶褐白斑，溫潤瑩光。雕山石層疊，松梅作伴，河水潺潺，有一小船停在石塊間，中間逍空似表示出山洞之意，上有一文人對樵夫互拱手，相敬如賓，樵夫撫琴，描繪鍾子期遇俞伯牙的故事。雕工細膩，打磨精到，古雅精緻。此山子原配紫檀座，鏤雕竹石水波紋，雕工精細，錯落有致，精美絕倫。

俞伯牙，春秋戰國時代楚國人，於為晉國士大夫，精通琴藝，鼓琴可令六馬仰斜，昔難覓知音。一天，他在回楚國船上奏琴，經漢陽江口，竟有一樵夫鍾子期了解琴中之意，是謂志在山水之間，伯牙大喜，後來子期去世，伯牙謂世上再無知音，碎琴終生不復鼓。

本山子山石之形態表現，以及原配座子之雕工，皆與清宮舊藏之青玉御題詩村莊農慶圖山子如出一轍，見張廣文編，《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系．玉器(下)》，上海，2008，頁68-69，圖版51。該玉山子上更有御題詩一首。