A white jade loose-handled gu-form vase, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉雕雙耳活環花觚

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th April 1997, lot 783.

Hong Kong Private Collection.

Asian Private Collection.

來源：

香港蘇富比1997年4月29日，編號783

香港私人收藏

亞洲私人收藏

The present jade gu-form vase is a remarkable example of archaistic jade produced for the Qianlong court. The overall form of this piece is based on archaic bronze gu vessels from the late Shang (1600-1050 BC) and early Western Zhou (1050-771 BC) periods. Driven by the Qianlong Emperor’s fascination with the past, jade craftsmen actively adapted the archaic bronze shapes to suit the prevailing taste of the Qing court.

Apart from producing pieces that closely replicated the original form and design of ancient prototypes, the imperial craftsmen often adjusted the vessels’ proportions in innovative ways and borrowed decoration from various sources, see Gongting zhiya. Qingdai fanggu ji huayi yuqi tezhan tulu / The Refined Taste of the Emperor. Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, Taipei, 1997, pp 36-37. Although the present vase takes the basic form of a bronze gu, its lozenge-shaped section was a Qing innovation. The two stylized dragon handles on the sides are likely inspired by the design of jade pendants dating back to the Han Dynasty or earlier, see, for example, a pair of dragon-shaped pendants, attributed to 4th century BC, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl. 17:9.

Jade vases of diamond-shaped section with undecorated surfaces are uncommon. Compare a smaller gu-form vase of closely related proportions, but carved with a dragon on one side and rocks, lingzhi fungus and auspicious clouds on the other, preserved in the National Palace Museum and published online (accession no. 故玉001058N000000000); one featuring a longer neck, decorated with a slender dragon in pursuit of a flaming pearl on the sides of the neck, and a small chilong at the lower section, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November 2007, lot 1546; and a yellow jade vase of related shape, with two chilong dragons at the neck contesting a flaming pearl, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th September 1992, lot 775.

Compare also two related examples with decorated surfaces, one, carved with taotie masks and banana leaves, flanked by two handles in the form of elephant heads suspending loose rings, sold in these rooms, 23rd–24th May 1974, lot 128; the other, from the collection of Henry J. Heinz II, sold in these rooms, 18th March 1977, lot 36.