A pair of white and green jade toggles marks and period of Qianlong

each carved with archaistic designs in low relief, the reverse delicately incised with a four-character Qianlong mark, followed by a twelve character inscription highlighted in black pigment on the green toggle, with a four character gilt inscription and square seal on the white toggle, the stone translucent spinach-green, the other of pure white tone

Jade toggles of this form were made in the Jade Ateliers of the Imperial Palace Workshop located in the Forbidden City. The very fine quality of the jade and the delicate gilded carving indicate the high level of attention extended to the making of these small wares.

 

The inscription on the white jade toggle reads and can be translated as:

Qianlong yu shang.

Hong Riwu ‘San you yuan’.

For the imperial appreciation of Qianlong.

Hong Riwu’s San you yuan (Three Friends’ Garden)

 

The inscription on the green jade toggle reads and can be translated as :

Qianlong yu shang

Tang Ying xie ‘Lan Ting’. Wen Weimin xie ‘Xu zhenji’.

For the imperial appreciation of Qianlong.

Tang Ying’s Lan Ting (Orchid Pavilion). Wen Weimin’s Xu zhenji (The Authentic Work to the Preface).

 

See two celadon-grey jade toggles for handscrolls in the Qianlong imperial collection illustrated in Documentary Chinese Works of Art. In Scholars’ Taste, London, 1983, pl. 122; a Khotan green jade inscribed scroll-toggle for a painting by Lang Shiing and Zheng Tingyan, sold in these rooms, 25^th April 2004, lot 88; and another celadon jade toggle attached to a Qianlong Imperial calligraphic scroll also sold in these rooms, 25^th April 2004, lot 78.