A FINE WHITE JADE MUGHAL-STYLE 'CHRYSANTHEMUM' BOWL QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

the low circular bowl with slightly spreading, thinly carved sides, exquisitely carved on the interior with four graduated rows of stylized petals and finely cross-hatched circular center, the gently-lobed exterior carved in low-relief with stylized foliage, pendent ruyi-heads punctuating the slender border at the lip, the underside of the foot carved in correspondence with the interior, the exterior band of petals curling to form the low foot, the stone of a granular white with faint horizontal striations, a few thin lines of russet inclusions to the rim and sides

Gump's, San Francisco.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, April 1980.

'Chrysanthemum' bowls in this form and of this size and depth are unusual. For smaller examples in white jade, see Alex Kerr, Immortal Images. The Jade Collection of Margaret and Trammell Crow, Dallas, 1989, p. 94; and Pierre-F. Schneeberger, The Baur Collection, Geneva, Chinese Jades and Other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, no. B112. For a pair of smaller dishes in green jade, see Jade as Sculpture, Indianapolis, 1975, no. 81. For a wider shallow chrysanthemum dish of green jade, with smaller flutes and less elaboration, see Jadeware (III). The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 201, p. 246.

The pendent foliage on the exterior of the present bowl appears to be derived from Mughal examples, such as one in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated ibid., no. 227, p. 275, where the acanthus leaf motif is becoming more attenuated and stylized. Compare also a Mughal white jade dish with similar treatment to the underside of the foot as the present piece, portraying radiating tiers of petals within a petal-form foot, illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, pl. 29, pp. 182-183. See also a white jade coupe with ruyi-head lappets similar to those found on the rim of the present bowl, ibid. pl. 80, pp. 284-285.