A white jade archaistic gui-form vessel and cover, Mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 白玉仿古獸面紋雙龍耳蓋簋 《乾隆年製》款

A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, Yongshougong, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 121.

《玉緣：德安堂藏玉》，永壽宮，故宮博物院，北京，2004年，編號121

The archaistic design on the present lot of taotie masks and kui-dragons, is consistent with the Qianlong emperor's fascination with archaic and ancient objects, which subsequently influenced jade craftsmanship. The Qianlong emperor proposed to 'restore ancient ways', reflecting on his concerns with drawing moral strength and righteousness from the examples of the Ancients; see Chang Li-tuan, The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch'ing Court, Taipei, 1997, p. 49.

It is very rare to find jade incense burners carved with a reign mark, and they are often unique in their design because the size and decoration depending entirely on the jade stone used to make them. Compare a closely related spinach-green jade gui-form incense burner and cover in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with a very similar design of the taotie masks around the neck and similar handles, illustrated in Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], Hebei, 2005, no. 348.

碧玉玉質，圓形，足壁外撇，爐身兩側雕螭龍耳，鏤雕盤龍作蓋鈕，蓋面出戟，雕獸面紋，爐身雕夔龍紋。此蓋爐紋飾仿古代青銅彝器，與乾隆帝慕古求新之藝術品味有關，為清宮仿古玉器佳例之一。有關宮廷仿古玉雕之討論，見張麗端，《宮廷之雅：清代仿古及畫意玉器特展圖錄》，台北，1997年，頁49。

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中期和田玉仿古獸面紋簋，束頸同樣四出戟並浮雕獸頭，見楊柏達，《中國玉器全集》，河北，2005年，編號348。