A pale celadon and russet jade ewer (Yi), 17th century

Louis Joseph, Ltd., London, 1960-1985 (by repute).

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Lobl.

The Lobl Collection of Chinese Jades, Marchant, 2020, cat. no. 19.

The form of the present vessel, known as an yi or gong, is derived from archaic bronze wine vessels first attested in the early Western Zhou dynasty. Compare another jade vessel of this form with a dragon similarly going through the handle, illustrated in Geoffrey Wills, Jades of the East, New York, 1972, pl. 105; and another, without a dragon, from the collection of Humphrey K. F. Hui, included in Virtuous Treasures. Chinese Jades for the Scholar’s Table, Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong 2008, cat, no. 13.