A white and russet jade 'bird and mythical beast' vase and cover, 17th - 18th century | 十七至十八世紀 白玉雕朱雀瑞獸蓋瓶

Commissioning jade carvings in the form of archaistic bronzes was a fashion popular among scholars during the time between the late Ming and early Qing dynasties as seen in the present vase. Whilst no other vase group of this exact design appears to be published, the finely incised archaistic upright lappets around the neck and the ribbed design around the body appear to have been inspired by archaic bronze vessels dated to the Western Zhou dynasty, see one such example in the British Museum (museum no. 1977,0404.1).

For a similar subject matter, see a jade dog and bird group from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (II), Beijing, 2008, pl. 143.

明末清初文人及宮廷慕古崇舊，常以商周彝器為範本委託製作仿古玉器。此蓋瓶蓋頂及頸部圓雕兩朱雀並襯以瑞獸，其設計極其罕見，隨不見有完全相同之例著錄，但瓶身凸起直綫紋之設計應該是慕仿西周青銅彜器，如1931年出土於河南省濬縣辛村衛國墓地出土西周康侯簋，現藏大英博物館（編號1977,0404.1）。

類似帶有瑞獸及朱雀的玉雕瓶，見北京故宮博物院藏一例，見《故宮博物院文物珍品大系：玉器（中）》，北京，2008年，圖143。