A CELADON AND RUSSET JADE BOULDER QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD |

the substantial flattened boulder of irregular mountain form, deftly carved in various levels of relief, depicting on one face a sage standing on a rocky ledge looking towards a young attendant reaching for a prunus tree, set amidst a mountainous landscape with pine, overhanging wutong, leafy shrubs and distant pavilion, the reverse worked through the russet skin in low relief with pine and wutong growing from cragged mountains, the stone of an even celadon tone with russet veining, wood stand

The jade boulder is elaborately carved to depict a hermit scene in the rugged mountains, home to immortals and reclusive scholars. These mountains, boldly and irregularly carved with rocky paths, waterfall, pine trees and vegetation, are often inhabited by tiny figures, exemplifying the concept of 'landscape in miniature.' Compact and upright domed boulders depicting scholars or immortals ascending a path were popular during the Qianlong period, as they symbolised the ascending career of the scholar-literati within the civil service. They also serve as vehicles for the scholar and connoisseur to be transported to their imaginary, distant realms. Boulder mountains testify the jade carvers' tremendous skills and reflect their reverence for the natural qualities of the stone. They were able to carve elaborate and lively tableaus within the confines of the boulder, keeping the silhouette intact while artistically manipulating the natural 'imperfections' of the stone to enhance the design. 

Compare a jade boulder with a similar use of the russet skin, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum's exhibition The Refined Taste of the Emperor, Taipei, 1997, cat. no. 47. A jade boulder of similar size with immortals in a mountainscape from the British Rail Pension Fund was sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 97, another showing Shoulao travelling with an acolyte also in these rooms, 16th November 1989, lot 601. A related celadon jade boulder, depicting an immortal ascending the long staircases from his pavilion to a scholar await at the bottom of the mountain, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware III, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 73.