An exceptional and finely carved white jade brushpot, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉雕高士仙山圖筆筒

Sotheby's New York, 10th April 1986, lot 199.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25th April 2004, lot 13.

紐約蘇富比1986年4月10日，編號199

香港蘇富比2004年4月25日，編號13

A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, Yongshougong, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 2.

《玉緣：德安堂藏玉》，永壽宮，故宮博物院，北京，2004年，編號2

This white jade brushpot is striking for its exceptional quality of both the stone as well as the carving. Skilfully carved with a scene that unravels like a scroll painting white the turning of the vessel, the brushpot captures a sense of harmony and ethereality by balance the object with the void, intricate detail with polished surfaces. The exceptional quality of the semi-translucent stone is highlighted through the minimally carved areas. The decoration adheres to the tradition of Chinese painting, where the material's surface is treated as a horizontal scroll. As the brushpot is turned, the motif unfurls before the viewer, unveiling a new perspective of the landscape with each scene. This unique quality allows the brushpot to be admired from various vantage points, transforming it into an object of multi-dimensional appreciation.

The Qianlong Emperor fervently promoted the idea of infusing jade carvings with the essence of classical paintings, elevating the jade brushpot became to an important medium for pictorial subjects. Many of these 'pictorial' brushpots faithfully illustrate historical events or stories as memorialized in classical paintings, whilst others interpret their source material ingeniously, aiming to encapsulate the spirit of China's vibrant tradition of landscape painting. For a similarly carved but larger white jade brushpot in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, no. 167.