清乾隆 南紅瑪瑙巧作一把蓮荷葉洗 配 染色象牙座 |

洗整體品相良好。邊緣細小局部經輕磨。座品相良好，惟見表面輕微磨痕及邊緣細小挫傷。
我們很高興為您提供上述拍品狀況報告。由於敝公司非專業修復人員，在此敦促您向其他專業修復人員索取諮詢，以獲得更詳盡、專業之報告。

準買家應該檢查每款拍品以確認其狀況，蘇富比所作的任何陳述均為專業主觀看法而非事實陳述。準買家應參考有關該拍賣的重要通知（見圖錄）。

雖然本狀況報告或有針對某拍品之討論，但所有拍賣品均根據印於圖錄內之業務規則以拍賣時狀況出售。

This outstanding brush washer is of unparalleled quality, ranking alongside the finest quality examples from the Imperial collection preserved in Beijing or Taipei. The quality of the raw material itself is of brilliant colour, which has been skilfully manipulated to depict the superbly carved undulating design. The original green-stained ivory stand, selected as a detail for the cover of this catalogue, is itself a superlative work of art, where the natural organic grain of the ivory has been so masterfully utilised to match the undulating stems of the brush washer. Skilfully carved to depict a lotus pod, it epitomises the plethora of novel designs carved from a variety of precious materials that were favoured by the Qianlong Emperor. A distinctive requirement of hardstone carving is the ability of the artist to integrate its variegated colours, which are almost always irregular. A master craftsman relied on his exceptional artistic sensibility and intimate knowledge of the material to visualise the completed product in an unworked stone. He also needed to be flexible in modifying his initial design upon encountering variations of colours and opacities in the course of his work, turning a potential flaw into a desirable highlight.

Carnelian agate was among the semi-precious stones prized by the Qing Court and was utilised for the production of playthings, snuff bottles and other small intricately carved scholar’s objects such as the present washer. Further carnelian agate examples of objects for the scholar’s table include a brushrest, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Small Refined Articles of the Study, Shanghai, 2009, p. 122, pl. 91; a vase in the form of a trunk, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 142; and a number of pieces from the Heber R. Bishop collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, such as a small vase and a water pot, accession nos 02.18.868 and 02.18.875 respectively. Carnelian-agate carvings of this exceptional quality were created to furnish the halls of the Imperial Palaces. Several examples housed in the Empress Eugénie Chinese Museum at Fontainebleau are illustrated in Le Musée chinois de l'impératrice Eugénie, Paris, 1994, pp. 24-25.