A well carved white jade screen, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉松山高士瑞鹿圖硯屏

Property of Lady Plender.

Sotheby's London, 14th July 1970, lot 78.

Collection of the Earl of Jersey, by descent.

Plender女士收藏

倫敦蘇富比1970年7月14日，編號78

澤西伯爵家族收藏

The present table screen is carved from a lustrous white stone, perfectly suited for illumination by natural light. Free from any noticeable dark inclusions, the white jade allows the natural light to filter through the screen, bringing forth the features of the carved landscapes and the varying degrees of the relief. The backlit landscapes of the table screen provides beauty as well as images of tranquil environs away from the responsibilities of court service, to the scholar-official who would have placed this in his studio and gazed upon it throughout the day. This particular screen also offers the benefit of dual scenes, depending on which side of the screen is viewed, the spectacularly successful compositions of which exemplified the ingenuity of the carver.

Other jade screens of this type include an imperially inscribed example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the museum’s exhibition The Refined Taste of the Emperor. Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch'ing Court, 1997, cat. no. 65; a slightly larger screen sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st April 1992, lot 1218, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2009, lot 1718.