Footnotes

• 清乾隆 碧玉素面敞口大盤
  
  Provenance 來源:
  Spink & Son Ltd., London
  Somerset de Chair (1911-1995)
  
  The richly speckled green jade of the present dish is complemented by the restrained carving which allows the quality of the stone to be of primary consideration for the viewer. The form is taken from that of porcelain, but whilst the broad circular shape is well-suited to clay thrown on the potter's wheel, to find a suitably large and even stone for such a shape is very rare.
  
  A related but smaller dish (28.7cm diam.), described as 'fine quality nephrite' and 'moss green' in colour, dated to the Qianlong period, is illustrated by S.C.Nott, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, London, 1936, pl.CXXIV. Another dish described as 'mottled sage green', dated to the late Ming period but with a Qianlong mark, is illustrated ibid., also pl.CXXIV.
  
  Compare also a spinach jade bowl with a Qianlong mark and of the period, illustrated in The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade, London, 2013, no.4.
  
  玉質碧綠色，有黑色及深綠色斑點。器作圓盤，侈口、淺腹、平底、淺圈足。整體光素，線條簡潔流暢。
  
  此大盤的形制應受宮廷瓷器器形影響，而要雕琢出如此大盤則需耗費眾多玉料，因此極其難得。玉匠刻意不加雕琢來顯玉質豐富的自然之色，雖光素卻展現出玉質生動的氣韻。
  
  一件乾隆時期類似但體積較少的例子可見S.C.Nott，《Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages》，倫敦，1936年，圖版CXXIV。另見一件明晚期但刻有乾隆款的玉盤，見同上，圖版CXXIV。參見一件刻有乾隆款的碧玉碗，著錄於《The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade》，倫敦，2013年，編號4。