A YELLOW AND RUSSET JADE EAR-CUP QING DYNASTY |

of archaistic form, the shallow oval-shaped bowl with sturdy sides rising from a short foot, the sides flanked by a pair of elongated 'ear' handles, each handle carved in relief with a taotie mask, the lustrous stone of a warm yellow colour with russet markings to the underside and edge of one handle

Another closely related jade ear-cup carved with ‎similar handles, but worked from a celadon jade, was sold in these rooms 6th December 1979, lot 1084. Compare also a yellow jade ear-cup from the Qianlong period, but smaller in size and undecorated, was sold in these rooms, 7th April 2015, lot 3606. Another white jade ear-cup with archaistic decoration in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, incised with a Qianlong four-character seal mark, is illustrated in The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1997, cat. no. 31, together with a spinach-green jade example, cat. no. 32. The inspiration of the cup is Han dynasty lacquer ear-cups, such as one in the British Museum, gift of Brooke Sewell, with an inscription noting that it was made for the emperor in AD 4 at the Western Factory workshop in Shunow, Sichuan Province, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p. 43, pl. 13.