A Large Pale-Celadon Jade 'Champion Vase' and Cover Incised Fanggu Mark and Period of Qianlong

boldly worked and hollowed in the form of two tubular pedestal vases flanking an eagle standing on the head of a recumbent bear, the eagle suspending a fixed ring from its beak with its wings outstretched across both vases, each vase carved in low relief with a band of archaistic motifs between pendent cicada lappets, the rim and foot encircled with a key-fret border, the bear's hindquarters and bifurcated tail protruding at the bottom on the reverse, below a conjoined pair of elongated 'C'-shaped scroll handles, the double cover detailed with lingzhi motifs and surmounted by a sinuous coiling dragon, the stone of an even pale celadon colour, the underside of the bear inscribed with a six-character fanggu ('imitating antiques') mark, with traces of original gilding

Collection of William Keswick (1834-1912), Taipan of Jardine Matheson, and thence by descent.

The vase is in overall quite good condition with some typical nibbles to the edges. The dragon head is missing from the cover with three areas that have been chipped where the head and neck touch the body. The inner mouthrim has a polished down chip.
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This outstanding jade ‘champion vase’ encapsulates the high quality of jade workmanship and reverence for the past in the Qianlong era. For a closely related example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see The Refined Taste of the Emperor. Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jade of the Ch’ing Court, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1997, cat. no. 17. The iconography and overall form is similar, but it is smaller and lacks the precision of detail and depth of the low-relief archaistic ground on the current vase. For a spinach-green jade example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, also inscribed with a Qianlong fanggu mark, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), Hong Kong 1995, pp. 184-5, pl. 151.  See also an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London, 1968, pl. 94

For similar jade examples sold at auction, see two examples without reign marks, one from the Heber Bishop Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 13th/14th September 2012, lot 1032; and another from the Concordia House Collection, sold in our New York rooms, 19th March 2007, lot 20.

Inspired by archaic bronze vessels, champion vases were an important part of marriage rituals, with the two compartments of the vase symbolising the union between bride and groom. These vessels were also produced in other media. For an example in cloisonné enamel, see a vase of this form from the Clague collection, included in the exhibition Chinese Cloisonné, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 1980, cat. no. 39. The term 'champion vase' derives from the Chinese name for vessels of this form, yingxiong ping. The eagle (ying) and the bear (xiong) jointly symbolise courage and together form a rebus for champion or hero (yingxiong).

For examples of wares inscribed with the Qianlong fanggu mark see a vase with animal-shaped ring handles, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, vol. 12, Hong Kong, 1997, pl. 22. Li Jiu-fang in 'An Introduction to Jades of the Qing Dynasty', ibid., p. xxviii, notes that the formal classification of Qing imperial fanggu jades may be divided into three groups – the replication of ancient jades, the modification of old jades, and jades inspired by Bronze Age forms. Li further mentions that according to the 1743 registry for the Establishment of Maintenance of the Zaobanchu, Bao Shixu and an assistant of the Office of the Treasury delivered two volumes of the Kaogutu [Illustrated catalogue of examined antiquity] to the workshops, and issued the Imperial request that the workers study the illustrations and descriptions of the ancient masterworks in order to create new ones. Instructions were given that the reproductions were to be exactly like the originals in form and measurement.