Paire de coupes en jade céladon pâle Chine, dynastie Qing, époque Qianlong (1736-1795)

circulaires, les bords évasés, sculptées dans le style moghol d'un médaillon de feuillages à l'intérieur et d'une fleur de lotus entourée de rinceaux fleuris à l'extérieur

Jades carved in this florid style which originated in Hindustan in the Mughal period began to come to China from approximately the middle of the reign of the Qianlong emperor, who immediately grew fond of them. The first carved jade bowl to have been sent from Central Asia as tribute is recorded for 1756, and thereafter tribute gifts of this type continued to arrive throughout Qianlong's reign and beyond. Concurrently, Moslem jade carvers were brought to work in the Palace Workshops to fashion similar wares, and as early as 1764 exact copies of Indian jades held at the palace were reproduced by Chinese craftsmen working at the court. (For further historical details see the article by Teng Shu-ping in the Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, pp. 9-109.)

A dish of slightly larger dimensions, similarly carved to the interior and base with a large stylised flower, but the sides in the form of large mallow petals, in the Qing Court collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 200.