A VERY FINELY CARVED WHITE JADE 'CHAMPION' VASE AND COVER QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

the even white stone worked as a pair of tubular vessels resting on splayed feet, flanking a falcon standing atop the head of a bear, the falcon depicted extending its wings across the exterior of both vases, the falcon's tail and the bear's hinquarters protruding from between the vessels on the reverse, the mouthrim, lower body and footrim incised with key-fret bands, the domed covers decorated with lotus lappets and conjoined with a scroll finial detailed with a key-fret band, above stylised ruyi and globular motifs, wood stand

Christie's London, 23rd April 1990, lot 55.
Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman.
Christie's Hong Kong, 27th November 2007, lot 1547.

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 77.

The vase and cover are in overall good condition with just expected minute bruises and nicks to the extremities. There is a minute area of polishing to the inner flange of the cover.
"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."

This finely carved ‘champion’ vase encapsulates the Qianlong Emperor’s reverence for the past, as it derives from archaic bronze vessels produced from as early as the Western Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 9). These prototypes were cast in the form of two cups joined by an eagle (ying) standing on a bear (xiong); see one excavated in Mancheng, Hebei province, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jades. From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 387, fig. 4. ‘Champion’ vases regained popularity in the Song dynasty (960-1279), and by the Qianlong reign (1735-96) became an important part of marriage rituals, with the two compartments of the vase symbolising the union between bride and groom.

A slightly larger vase of this type, in the De An Tang Collection, was included in the exhibition A Romance with Jade, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 131; another was exhibited in Jade as Sculpture, Minnesota Museum of Art, Saint Paul, 1975, cat. no. 64; a third, with a Qianlong mark and of the period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, Qing Dynasty, vol. 10, Beijing, 2011, pl. 149; and a further example, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is published in S. Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London, 1968, pl. 94. See also a vase sold in our London rooms, 20th November 1973, lot 71; and another sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st November 2004, lot 834, and again in these rooms, 7th April 2015, lot 3105.

‘Champion’ vases were made in a variety of media; for example see a bronze vase attributed to the Song dynasty, illustrated in Paul Moss and Gerard Hawthorn, The Second Bronze Age. Later Chinese Metalwork, Sydney Moss Ltd., London, 1991, cat. no. 35; and a cloisonné enamel example from the Clague Collection, included in the exhibition Chinese Cloisonné, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 1980, cat. no. 39.