A white jade archaistic 'taotie' incense burner and cover, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉饕餮紋朝冠耳三足蓋爐

The present piece embodies the exceptional creativity of Qing craftsmen in its combination of contemporary and archaic motifs. Continuing the Song tradition of reinterpreting large archaic ritual bronzes into relatively small jade vessels, this incense burner is carved with the archaic taotie motifs. In response to the ‘vulgarisation’ of Chinese jade carving in the 18th century, characterised by decorative objects with ornate high-relief designs, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned jades which were inspired by the forms and designs of antiquity. Jade carvers were encouraged to create ‘archaistic’ designs by studying archaic bronze vessels in the Palace collection or in illustrated woodblock prints and adapting them to the medium of jade. This archaistic trend is well encapsulated in the designs carved on the present incense burner.

While jade incense burners are often unique, their size and decoration depending entirely on the jade stone used to make them, the proportion of this piece, its form and motif are closely related to a white jade incense burner in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, 10, Beijing, 2011, p.135, no.98. Compare also with a related jade incense burner of similar form and with strap handles, but decorated with bow-string design, Qing dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p.72, no.60; Compare also a closely white jade example with similar taotie design, from the collection of Sir Quo-Wei Lee, sold in these rooms, 8^th October 2019, lot 135; and a further related white jade ‘phoenix’ tripod incense burner and cover, Qianlong – Jiaqing period, which was sold at these rooms, 29 April 2022, lot 3681.

白玉偏青灰，玉質溫潤，唇口短頸，豐肩鼓腹，兩側出朝冠耳，下承三足。爐蓋、爐身外通體淺浮雕饕餮紋，出戟相間，三足外幣雕獸面紋。整器做工規整，打磨精良，集創新與仿古於一身。此類仿古紋飾玉雕承宋代傳統，以玉雕仿古青銅禮器而雕刻。 乾隆皇帝性好風雅，又酷嗜玉器，因此命清宮造辦處製作大量仿古玉器，用於宮廷清玩陳設。造辦處玉匠宮時常參宮中舊藏青銅禮器或者《宣和博古圖》等木版摹圖，以玉仿製古器。此爐慕仿上古青銅彝器之器型及紋飾，為乾隆宮廷仿古玉器之典型。

乾隆時期之玉雕蓋爐，玉匠多需要依玉料尺寸、紋理及質地來構思器型及紋飾，每件皆不完全相同。北京故宮博物院藏一件清白玉朝冠耳獸面紋香薰，其器型、尺寸及紋飾佈局與本蓋爐相似，可資比較，見《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器編10》，北京，2011年，頁135，圖版98。另對比參照一件造形相似的白玉蓋爐，飾繩耳，爐身飾凸弦紋，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系．玉器(中)》，香港，2006年，頁72，編號60。另對比一件類似的白玉蓋爐，同樣飾饕餮紋，為利國偉爵士收藏，後售於香港蘇富比2019年10月8日，編號135。以及一件清乾隆至嘉慶白玉夔鳳紋三獸足朝冠耳蓋匲，售於香港蘇富比2022年4月29日，編號3681。