A pair of reticulated jade 'melon and butterfly' cylindrical incense holders, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 碧玉鏤雕蝶瓜圖香插一對

Sir William Charles Angliss (1865-1957), Melbourne.

S. Marchant & Son, London.

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William Charles Angliss（1865-1957）收藏，墨爾本

馬錢特，倫敦

Ninety Jades for 90 Years, Marchant, London, 2015, cat. no. 81.

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《Ninety Jades for 90 Years》，馬錢特，倫敦，2015年，編號81

Jade parfumiers, featuring intricate high-relief and openwork designs, take their inspiration from similar motifs carved on late Ming and early Qing bamboo vessels. The present piece, for example, features a lush scene of melons (gua) and butterflies (die); a popular motif that forms the rebus gua die mian mian representing a wish for prosperous and abundant offspring.

Exceptionally finely carved spinach-green jade vessels were a staple of the Qianlong court and preserved in the world's most important collections. Compare a related pair of gilt metal-mounted spinach-green incense holders of auspicious 'ruyi and bat' design and two others preserved in the Qing Court Collection, in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, vol. 8: Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pls 198, 206 and 210; and a related pair of wider proportions sold from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, New York in our New York rooms, 17th March 2021, lot 15. Also compare a related parfumier of white and green jade sold from the De An Tang Collection in our Hong Kong rooms, 26th November 2024, lot 3888; and another example from the collection of Edmund C. Converse (1849-1921), preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 21.175.84), illustrated on the Museum's website.