Important Chinese Art

Important Chinese Art

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 132. A rare inscribed white jade 'chilong' hairpin, Ming Dynasty | 明 白玉螭龍紋髪簪 及 清十九世紀 白玉髪簪三件.

Formerly in the Collection of Dr. David Ho (1911-1986)

A rare inscribed white jade 'chilong' hairpin, Ming Dynasty | 明 白玉螭龍紋髪簪 及 清十九世紀 白玉髪簪三件

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Auction Closed

November 3, 05:23 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Formerly in the Collection of Dr. David Ho (1911-1986)

A rare inscribed white jade 'chilong' hairpin 

Ming Dynasty

明 白玉螭龍紋髪簪 及 清十九世紀 白玉髪簪三件


of tapering cylindrical form, gently curving at its upper end towards a hemispherical knob, the lower end with a rounded tip, the shaft finely carved with a sinuous chilong and worked with an inscription reading yan nian junzi, wen qi ru yu; together with three plain white jade hairpins, Qing Dynasty, 19th century

銘文：言念君子，溫其如玉

(4)

Length 9.7 cm, 3¾ in.

Acquired 17th January 1969 from T. M. Ching, New York.

於1969年1月17日得自紐約T. M. Ching


Dr. David Ho (Chinese name Ho Hangchi 何昌熾) was born in Kanton in 1911. His father was a well-known dentist in Nanjing who counted Chiang Kai-shek among his patients. David Ho pursued an illustrious career in International Law. He first studied political sciences at the University of Shanghai (1930-1932) followed by comparative and international law studies at Suzhou University. After moving to France, in 1941 he obtained a PhD in law from the University of Paris. In 1962 he joined the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in London. From 1949 until his retirement in 1971, David Ho worked as a legal officer at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. He relocated to Geneva in 1971 where he and his wife lived until his death in 1986. 


Interested in Chinese history and art, David Ho was particularly fascinated by objects that were inscribed. His extensive archive and research suggest that it was during his time in New York that he began collecting and researching Chinese artefacts.

This hairpin is reminiscent of the style of Lu Zigang (active in the 17th century) who excelled in the art of jade carving including hairpins such as this piece, see, for example, a jade chilong hairpin dated to the late Ming dynasty, in the National Palace Museum, Beijing, signed Zigang, illustrated in Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth: Chinese Jades through the Ages. National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2011, pl. 137, fig. 7-2-9. A white jade hairpin of the same shape also terminating in a mushroom-shaped finial and similarly carved with sinuous chilong dragons and incised with the same 8-character inscription in the same calligraphic style, was discovered in a Ming dynasty hoard in Lingbi, Anhui, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Jades unearthed in China, vol. 6, Anhui, Beijing, 2005, p. 198. While rare, yet another white jade hairpin of this shape and design was discovered in a Ming family cemetary at Luwan, Shanghai, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Jades unearthed in China, vol. 7, Jiangsu and Shanghai, Beijing 1995, p. 231.