90
90
A PALE CELADON JADE 'SCHOLAR' PEBBLE
QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Estimate
100,000 — 150,000
HKD
JUMP TO LOT
90
A PALE CELADON JADE 'SCHOLAR' PEBBLE
QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Estimate
100,000 — 150,000
HKD
JUMP TO LOT

Details & Cataloguing

An Asian Collection of Jade Carvings

|
Hong Kong

A PALE CELADON JADE 'SCHOLAR' PEBBLE
QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
the substantial stone of oval section, worked on one face in relief depicting a scholar seated on a rocky ledge in a grotto, his head lifted looking at clouds of vaporous steam issuing from a boiling kettle before him, the reverse similarly worked with a gnarled pine tree amongst overhanging rocks, the stone of an even pale celadon tone
8.2 cm, 3 1/4  in.
Read Condition Report Read Condition Report

Exhibited

Jade: Ch'ing Dynasty Treasures from the National Museum of History, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1997.
The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, 1997-1998.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas, 1998, cat. no. 14.

Literature

C.C. Teng & Co., Jade Furnishings from the Scholar's Studio of Eighteenth Century, Taipei, 2001, cat. no. 13.

Catalogue Note

This animated carving has been carefully worked with strong literati allusions where a scholar is seated within a grotto boiling tea. The depiction of a reclusive scholar in a rustic natural setting epitomises the concept of 'landscape in miniature'. Small jade carvings of this type were often found on scholar's desks, and served as vehicles for the scholar and connoisseur to be transported in their imagination to far-off realms. 

Although jade mountains of varying sizes rendered with similar subjects were widely known in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, pebbles of such form worked with a scholarly scene were relatively unusual. The present carving, with its manageable size, would have served not only as a paperweight, but also a pleasing object to handle or amuse in a scholar's studio.

Compare a slightly larger pebble from the collection of Dr Ip Yee, carved with a luohan in a grotto, attributed to late Ming-early Qing dynasty, included in the exhibition Chinese Jade Carving, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1983, p. 262, cat. no. 234.

JUMP TO LOT

An Asian Collection of Jade Carvings

|
Hong Kong