A FINELY CARVED WHITE JADE CIRCULAR SCREEN WITH ITS ORIGINAL SPINACH-GREEN JADE STAND QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

of circular section, superbly carved in shallow relief with a mountainous landscape scene depicting an immortal standing on a path accompanied by two boy attendants, one holding a vase filled with flowers while his companion follows carrying a staff hung with a basket, with a crane standing nearby looking on, surrounded by lush pine and paulownia trees, precipitous peaks and open pavilions in the distance, with swirling clouds rising above where another crane is captured in mid-flight, the reverse finely carved with a spray of narcissus issuing from rockwork amongst a small clump of lingzhi and bamboo sprigs, the blooms and slender leaves finely picked out and naturalistically rendered, the stone of a pale celadon tone throughout with small areas of russet; the spinach-jade stand with two horned dragon heads at each end, with a roundel on the centre enclosing a shou character and carved in relief with archaistic scroll motifs, the ovoid base with a band of pendant lappets, the spinach-green stone mottled with darker green inclusions 

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 18th May 1989, lot 794.

The screen: To the reverse, there are two small nicks to the tips of two of the leaves. There are minute nibbles to the edges of the screen. Otherwise the piece is in very good condition. There are natural inclusions to the stone. The colour of the stone is less grey than the illustration. The stand: There are small nicks to the bottom of the stand, expected from usage over time. There is a bruise of approx 0.5 by 0.2 cm which has been polished down slightly. To one beast head, there is a small bruise to the tip of the ear of approx 0.3 by 0.1cm. Otherwise the stand is in good condition overall. There are natural inclusions to the stone. The colour of the stone is brighter and less dark than the illustration depicts.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

With varying levels of relief expertly carved and finished to a lustrous gloss, the present screen is a superb example of jade workmanship characteristic of the type created in the Imperial Palace during the 18^th century. The skill of the carver is evident in the impeccably detailed figures and the vast ethereal landscape, along with the elegantly rendered narcissus and lingzhi issuing from rockwork on the reverse. Such circular panels were fashioned from carefully chosen highly-translucent stones, which would enhance the differing depths of the carved pictorial scene while remaining unaffected by the reverse scene when light passed through it. Thus the viewer could be easily transported into the tranquil and harmonious landscape of inviting pavilions amongst lofty mountains, occupied by birds and figures that dwell beneath a sky of wispy clouds.

The Qianlong emperor advocated that jade mountains and carved panels should carry the spirit of paintings by famous past masters. It is recorded that a number of classical paintings from the Emperor's own collection were ordered to be reproduced in jade, such as the well-known painting Travellers in the Mountains, by the eminent Five Dynasties painter Guan Tong (907-60). The Gengzhi tu, a set of forty-six paintings illustrating rice and silk culture commissioned by the Kangxi emperor in 1696, was also recreated and is seen carved on a pair of screens in the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, illustrated in James C. Y. Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1989, pl. 76.

The Qianlong emperor's appreciation of superior jade panels, such as the present example, is reflected in one of his poems where he notes, "This precious piece of slab is from Khotan. It is unsuitable for making vessels such as the dragon hu and animal lei. In order to fully utilise it, it is carved into a panel with the scene of 'A Riverside on a Spring Morning'. Imagination is exerted to turn the natural undulation or ruggedness into an appropriate landscape" (see Yang Boda, 'Jade: Emperor Ch'ien Lung's Collection in the Palace Museum', Arts of Asia, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 85).

A closely related pair of screens of slightly larger size depicting figures in a mountain landscape, but with deer on the reverse and with later wooden stands, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27^th November 2007, lot 1511. The similarity of workmanship and carving style of this pair to the present piece suggest that they may have been made by the same workshop. See also a similar screen, of this form and supported on a nearly identical stand, more rigorously carved from a greyish-white stone with a sage in a large pavilion watching two attendants cross a bridge and the reverse with a prunus tree, foliage and rockwork, sold in our New York rooms, 18-19^th April 1989, lot 208; and another picturing a river landscape with a man fishing, and a scholar in a landscape on the reverse, mounted on a sturdily carved jade stand with breaking waves, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29-30^th October 2001, lot 709. For a spinach-green jade version carved with a procession of foreign emissionaries and mounted on an elaborately carved matching stand, see one sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27^th November 2007, lot 1513. 

It is rare to find circular panels complete with their original jade stands, and the two colours used here enhance the idyllic atmosphere created in the circular scene. Such pieces would have been placed on side or central tables to decorate the Qing dynasty imperial halls. Such circular screens, displayed on fine carved stands, were introduced in the Qianlong period and may derive from circular discs created in imitation of the archaic bi discs, which were a symbol of Heaven and originally for use in rituals. Textual and ritual references suggest that the association of the bi with Heaven was taken seriously in the Qing period. The display of such a disc or screen on a fine carved stand thus would have referred both to the values of antiquity and to the cosmological symbolism, ideas central to the Qianlong emperor's notions of rulership.