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AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE JADE DUCK Qianlong image 1
AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE JADE DUCK Qianlong image 2
AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE JADE DUCK Qianlong image 3
Lot 68

AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE JADE DUCK
Qianlong

14 December 2023, 17:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$19,200 inc. premium

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AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE JADE DUCK

Qianlong
With its head turning back holding a branch of marigold in the beak, the feet standing on a gnarled tree trunk, the stylized body detailed with keyfret patterns, the wings decorated with chilong dragons, the onion-white stone highly polished, with natural mottling inclusions.
3 3/4in (9.5cm) high; 5 3/8in (13.6cm) long; wood stand

Footnotes

清乾隆 仿古白玉鴨擺飾

Marigold, known as "chrysanthemum of ten thousand years of longevity" (wanshou ju), often appears in artwork from the Qing dynasty. The naturalistic flowering branches and the gnarled tree trunk underneath the duck present a contrast to the stylized rendering of the duck - of rigid silhouette and design elements taken from archaic bronze vessels and jade carvings.

Compare the jade duck in very similar archaistic style from the Brundage Collection, illustrated by Knight, Li and Tse Bartholomew, Later Chinese Jades: Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 2007, p. 262, no. 279, described as 19th century.

For a similar carving of a duck looking over its back and holding a lotus stem in its beak, see Christie's New York, 21-22 September 1995, lot 374.

Additional information

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