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The Property of a Gentleman 紳士藏品
Lot 186*
A rare very pale green jade archaistic four-legged vessel and cover 18th century
8 November 2012, 10:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£50,000 - £70,000
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A rare very pale green jade archaistic four-legged vessel and cover
18th century
Unusually carved on the exterior with a decorative band of archaistic dragons with their bodies interlaced as if to form waves, the heads rising above the writhing bodies at regular intervals, all above a further band of pendent ruyi-head lappets, the central lappet containing a stylised ji character, the shorter sides both with a phoenix-head handle, the cover with a medallion carved with a coiling dragon over each corner and surmounted by a central dragon finial, wood stand, box.
14cm (5½in) high (4).
Unusually carved on the exterior with a decorative band of archaistic dragons with their bodies interlaced as if to form waves, the heads rising above the writhing bodies at regular intervals, all above a further band of pendent ruyi-head lappets, the central lappet containing a stylised ji character, the shorter sides both with a phoenix-head handle, the cover with a medallion carved with a coiling dragon over each corner and surmounted by a central dragon finial, wood stand, box.
14cm (5½in) high (4).
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.