Footnotes

清乾隆 碧玉蓮瓣式蓋盌

Provenance:
The Summer Palace, Beijing, 1860, by repute
Sir John William Buchanan-Jardine (1900-1969), 3rd Baronet of Castle Milk (according to Spink invoice)
Spink & Son Ltd., London
An English private collection, acquired from the above on 27 January 1953

來源：
傳為1860年於圓明園獲得
米爾克堡第三男爵，約翰·威廉·渣甸爵士舊藏（1900-1969）（如斯賓克收據所示）
斯賓克有限公司，倫敦
英國私人舊藏，於1953年1月27日從以上古董商獲得

Sir John William Buchanan-Jardine was a scion of Sir William Jardine, the founder of Jardine, Matheson & Co. Established in Canton in 1832, this great shipping company rose to dominate the lucrative China trade and was instrumental in the early development of Hong Kong. The Jardine family played an influential role as proponents of punitive action against the Manchu court, leading to the infamous Opium Wars. From their privileged position in the Far East, the family was in a strong position to secure important pieces from the Chinese Imperial collections after the looting of the Summer Palace, Beijing, and the subsequent periods of instability.

The present lot is exceptionally rare in form and only one other similar example appears to have been published. See a white jade 'lotus' bowl and cover, Qianlong mark and of the period, from the Qing Court collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 10 Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl.177.

The form of the present lot would have required significant loss to the jade stone in the process of carving, making this bowl and cover, a particularly prized possession. The remarkable form of the bowl suggests it would most likely have been specially commissioned.

約翰·威廉·渣甸爵士為怡和洋行創始人威廉·渣甸之孫。怡和洋行前身為1832年在廣州創辦的渣甸洋行，早年參與對中國貿易，主要從事鴉片和茶葉買賣，現在仍是遠東最大的英資集團。1839年林則徐禁煙，渣甸洋行遊說英國政府與滿清開戰並引發後來的鴉片戰爭。鴉片戰爭爆發後，渣甸洋行將總公司從廣州遷至香港，借助怡和行在内地的名聲，並更名為怡和洋行。渣甸家族因長期在遠東經商，更有機會接觸後期因戰亂外流而出的宮廷珍品。

此玉蓋盌造型獨特，僅見北京故宮博物館清宮舊藏一例，為白玉所製，底部刻「乾隆年製」四字楷書款，見《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器編10》，北京，2011年，頁226，編號177。故宮所藏，蓋上亦有一蓋，可作儲物用，此件拍品蓋或為後世遺失，加入金屬內膽改作花插。此式蓋盌形制特殊，可能由宮廷為特殊場合或節慶而定制。