Livre en jade céladon à cinq feuilles Chine, Dynastie Qing, époque Kangxi (1662-1722), daté 1718

le livre comprenant cinq feuilles rectangulaires, la couverture et le dos à décor incisé et doré de deux dragons descendant et montant, deux feuilles inscrites en caractères chinois, une en sanscrit, les inscriptions gravées et dorées, cinq pages manquantes

Good condition, a few minute nicks along the edges and light pitting to the surface. The gilding covering the characters is somewhat rubbed in places revealing a blue pigment beneath (showing on the illustration in the catalogue). The book is not complete and had originally at least one additional leaf which is now missing.
"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."

These jade panels contain an inscription that commemorates the conferring of a posthumous title on the woman (1741-1717) who was dowager empress for almost the entire reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722).  Although she is usually identified by her short title, Empress Xiaohui Zhang,  "Filial and Kind Designated Empress," her entire title, given at the very end of the Chinese inscription (actually on what must have been the last panel, which is missing here), is "Filial and Kind, Considerate and Exemplary, Dignified and Sincere, Compassionate and Gentle, Respectful and Content, Pure in Virtuous Conduct, Submissive to the Will of Heaven, Worthy Assistant to the Son of Heaven Designated Empress".  We should note that zhang, the last character in the title just before "empress" huanghou, translated here as "designated" indicates that she deserves to have her tablet placed in the Imperial Ancestral Hall.  Empress Xiaohui Zhang was of the Mongol Borjigit clan.  In 1653 the Shunzhi emperor demoted his first empress, her aunt, and promoted Xiaohui zhang as Imperial Consort, and one year later officially made her his second empress. When he died and his son the Kangxi emperor ascended the throne in 1661, Xiaohui zhang was made dowager empress, although she was not the Kangxi emperor's biological mother (that was Empress Xiaokang [1640-1663]).  Further complicating history, Empress Dowager Zhaosheng (1613-1688), mother of the Shunzhi emperor as well as the great-aunt of Empress Xiaohui zhang, was then given the title Taihuang taihou (Superior Empress Dowager), so one must be sure not to confuse the two Kangxi era empress dowagers.
The Inscription begins with a date: "Fifty-seventh year of the Kangxi era, the year wuxu, third month, which begins with the day gengxu [1 April], this the twelfth day after the first of the month, the day xinyou [12 April 1718]"

Although a panel with probably eight columns of text is missing and a last panel, which likely was inscribed in larger characters with the entire posthumous title, are both missing, the entire inscription is preserved in documentary archives, including the Qing shilu (Veritable Records of the Qing), which have been collated, edited and published in a modern edition by the Beijing Zhonghua shuju in 1987 (the pertinent four pages illustrated here).

The missing middle panel inscription and the remainder of the inscription on the extant next panel go on very much in the same vein as the beginning of the inscription translated above.

Empress Xiaohui Zhang is praised throughout for her diligent service and kindness to her great-aunt, the Superior Empress Dowager, more about her exemplary management of the inner palace household is given, attributing the harmony that prevailed there all to her, and finally concludes with praise for her great skill as a calligrapher.

Further examples of jade books with commemoratory inscriptions include two dated to 1648, documenting the posthumous title of Empress Benignant bestowed on Emperor Shunzhi's great-great grandmother, one in the Qing Court collection, and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 3, and the other from the Hartman collection, sold in our New York rooms, 15^th September 2010, lot 210. See also a jade book dated to 1736 with a eulogy dedicated to the Qianlong emperor's grandmother, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Treasures of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, pl. 27; and another dated to 1778 commemorating the death of the Qianlong emperor's mother, Xiaosheng, sold at Christie's New York, 3^rd June 1993, lot 56.