A white jade archaistic 'chilong' vessel, gong, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉螭龍觥

A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, Yongshougong, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 127.

《玉緣：德安堂藏玉》，永壽宮，故宮博物院，北京，2004年，編號127

Notable for its archaistic form, this charming vessel is exquisitely worked after the archaic bronze wine vessel gong, a form which first appeared around the Shang dynasty. The present piece embodies the Qing imperial taste for antiquity. Gong is a rare shape among ancient bronze vessels, and it is even rarer to find archaistic jade vessels after this form. See a related gong with russet inclusions preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Li Jiu-fang, Chinese Jades throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, vol. 11: Qing Dynasty, Chicago and San Francisco, 1996, pl. 45. Compare also a larger yellow jade vase worked after a gong vessel, resting atop a recumbent mythical beast, sold in these rooms, 3rd April 2018, lot 3636; and another yellow jade example, without its cover, deaccessioned from the Speed Art Museum in Louisville and sold in our New York rooms, 24th March 2022, lot 204.