A white jade 'cicada' marriage bowl, Qing dynasty, 19th century | 清十九世紀 白玉雕蟬紋活環耳洗

Superbly carved from a single boulder of lustrous, even-toned white jade, the present bowl exemplifies the refined aesthetic and technical mastery achieved by jade carvers in the late Qing period and the perfecting standards of their clientele. 

Marriage bowls of this type first rose to favour during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735-1795), as the imperial court enthusiastically revived classical motifs and forms as expressions of cultural and moral ideals. Adorned with auspicious imagery, conferring blessings and good wishes upon a marital union, and often sporting grandly decorated ring handles, these marriage bowls were – and remain – popular wedding gifts for the scholarly elite and imperial household. The present bowl’s robust form is supported by four crisply rendered ruyi-form feet, a classical design for footed bowls since at least the Song dynasty and symbolic of a hope that one's wishes will be fulfilled. Similarly auspicious is the inclusion of four cartouches depicting the shuangxi (‘double happiness’) character – a motif commonly employed in marital decorations and apparently particularly favoured in the court of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908). 

While marriage bowls were widely produced for elite clients by the end of the Qing dynasty, it is rare to see an example of this high quality stone featuring four handles. For similar examples with more than two handles, compare a closely related octagonal bowl with four butterfly handles and key-fret body on a single splayed foot, sold at Christie’s London, 12th July 2005, lot 57; a Qianlong period bowl with an everted rim, five bat-shaped handles, and high relief shuangxi medallions, sold in our New York rooms, 1st December 1992, lot 39; and a related Qianlong period example used as a censer, with four butterfly-shaped handles and xi characters adorning the matching cover, preserved in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 61.

A particularly rare feature of the present bowl is its use of the cicada design across its four grand handles. Since antiquity, cicadas have been embraced in China as auspicious symbols of transformation, rebirth, and immortality. Their life cycle – particularly their emergence from underground after years of dormancy – was often seen as a metaphor for spiritual and physical renewal and, as such, jade carvings of cicadas often featured prominently in ancient tomb settings, including on the bodies of high-ranking deceased. Excavated throughout the Qing dynasty, these jade cicadas in turn also became associated with high status and China’s illustrious past; two further layers of meaning and myth deftly applied to this exceptional bowl.

本器以一整塊質地潤澤、色調均勻之白玉精雕而成，充分體現晚清玉工技藝之臻於化境，亦反映當時精英顧客對於工藝與美學之高標準要求。此類「活環耳洗」最早盛行於乾隆年間（1735–1795），為清宮復興古典圖像與器形風尚下之代表，常作為婚慶贈禮，象徵吉祥如意，深受士紳與宮廷所喜。器身圓潤厚實，下承四足，作如意頭形，寓意「如意吉祥」，此形式自宋代以來即見於帶足器皿之中。器身飾四枚壽字形開光，其內陰刻「囍」字（雙喜），為婚姻主題中最常見之裝飾圖樣，尤受慈禧太后（1835–1908）一朝宮廷推崇。

雖至清末，活環耳洗已為廣為製作之婚禮贈器，然擁有四隻耳飾且玉質上乘者實屬罕見。可參考一例相近之八方形白玉洗，飾四隻蝶形耳，器身飾回紋，單圈高足，售於佳士得倫敦，2005年7月12日，編號57；另見乾隆一例，口沿外撇，飾五隻蝙蝠形耳，並於器身高浮雕雙喜圓章，售於紐約蘇富比，1992年12月1日，編號39；又見一件乾隆年間白玉，用作香爐，飾四隻蝶形耳，器蓋及器身均飾「喜」字，現藏故宮博物院，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集 ·玉器》，卷下，香港，1995年，圖版61。

本器四耳以蟬形作飾，十分別緻。蟬，自古為中國文化中象徵高潔、蛻變與重生之瑞獸，其蟄伏地下數載後破土而出之生命歷程，被視為精神昇華與生命再生之象徵，常見於古代高等墓葬隨葬器中。清代考古興起後，古玉蟬紛見出土，其象徵意涵轉而與尊貴身份與歷史記憶交織。此器之四蟬耳，不僅為形式創新之巧思，更為器物增添深厚文化層次與象徵意涵，堪為晚清玉器中不可多得之佳作。