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An extremely rare large spinach jade table screen Qianlong
HK$500,000 - HK$600,000
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Find your local specialistAn extremely rare large spinach jade table screen
The rectangular panel worked in low relief with a scene of explorer Zhang Qian setting off on his journey to discover the source of the Yellow River, leaving the jagged rocky shore behind him as he travels on his log raft down turbulent waters, skillfully depicted by the undulating surfaces and incised wavy-lines, the evenly-toned dark green stone with lustrous polish and some paler green inclusions, mounted in a wood frame with a stand.
56cm (22in) high overall. (2).
Footnotes
Zhang Qian was an imperial Chinese envoy during the Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC. He was the first official diplomat to bring back reliable information about Central Asia to the Chinese imperial court, and also opened up channels of trade with the regions west of China. However, he is perhaps better known for his legendary journey to the stars, where he rode a log raft in an attempt to discover the source of the Yellow River, but instead found himself afloat in the Milky Way. This legend is recorded in the Jingchu suishi ji from the Six Dynasties period, and was further popularized during the Yuan dynasty when one of the characters from the popular play The Peony Pavilion, mentions Zhang Qian's journey to the Milky Way in a pivotal scene.
Zhang Qian's legendary journey was a popular art motif, carved often in rhinoceros horn, jade, and even silver. For rhinoceros horn examples with this subject matter in the collections of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Chester Beaty Library in Dublin and the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, see Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pp. 78 - 81. A silver example is illustrated by Stephen Little in Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China, Cleveland, 1988, no. 19, pp. 46 - 47. An almost identical scene to the present lot rendered on a jade brushpot is illustrated by Leigh Ashton and Basil Gray in Chinese Art, London, 2004, no. 137, pp. 372 - 373; and a pair of similar jade screens from the east chamber of the Yangxin Dian in the Imperial Palace is illustrated by Annette Juliano in Treasures of China, New York, 1981, p. 56.
清乾隆 碧玉張騫乘槎插屏
Saleroom notices
Estimate should read: HK$500,000-600,000