明 褐斑青白玉辟邪水滴

the mythical beast depicted in a crouching position with its head raised and mouth widening to a large grin, its bulging eyes framed by striated eyebrows, flaming haunches and a bifurcated tail, its curved body detailed in low relief with writhing chilong and taotie masks, hollowed and pierced with an aperture on its back and through its mouth, the base inscribed in archaic seal script reading xi ming shui run ci yuan (crystal clear water should facilitate literary writing), the pale celadon stone picked out with russet veins and snow flake inclusions, zitan wood stand (2)

倫敦蘇富比1999年6月16日，編號833
松竹堂收藏

《韞玉生輝：松竹堂珍藏玉器》，香港，2011年，圖版88

Jade waterdroppers of this type include one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, published in Ming Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, pl. 65; one sold in our London rooms, 13th/14th November, lot 113; another sold in these rooms, 8th April 2010, lot 1915; and a fourth example sold at Christie’s New York, 20th September 2005, lot 14.

The 16th century writer Gao Lian recorded a white jade waterdropper in the form of a bixie made by the celebrated carver Lu Zigang of Suzhou. Described as archaic in design with a hollow body and inlaid with turquoise, waterdroppers such as the present piece were probably inspired by Lu’s vessel (see James C.S. Lin, The Immortal Stone. Chinese Jades from the Neolithic Period to the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, 2009, p. 57).

This waterdropper reflects the thriving jade production of the Ming dynasty due to the growth of capitalism and the loosening of restrictions on jade carving. Jade became less associated with items for ritual use and was increasingly employed for everyday objects by the court and wealthy class, such as pieces for the scholars’ desk, eating and drinking vessels and ornamentation on clothing. Collecting antique jades also grew in popularity thus influencing the style and aesthetics of the Ming period, as seen in the Han-inspired form and decoration of the present piece.