A rare pale green and russet jade 'bitter-melon' linked box and cover

Qianlong

Footnotes

清乾隆 青白玉雕錦荔枝活環蓋盒

Provenance:
An English private collection

來源：
英國私人收藏

The box and cover demonstrates the remarkable skill and craftsmanship practiced in the jade ateliers reaching its peak during the Qianlong reign. The two perfectly fitting halves of the bitter melon and interlocking loose loop-handle joining them together are all carved from a single block of jade, which would have required consummate skill and precision.

Compare a related white and russet jade bitter-melon carving with similar designs of a knobbly surface, ridged leaves and gnarled stalks, Qing dynasty, illustrated in Compendium of Collection in the Palace Museum: Jade 9 Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, p.174, pl.164. This type of box and cover also appears in other kind of fruit, such as the pale green and russet jade peach-shaped box and cover, 18th century, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by M.Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, p.56, pl.58.

The bitter-melon is considered as a symbol of strength and endurance; the beetle, jia chong, means armour or shell, but also 'to come first' or 'top' as it is also the first of the ten Heavenly Stems in cyclical dating; combined, the present box may represent the auspicious wish for being top in strength and endurance.

A related pale green-white jade 'bitter-melon' box and cover, 18th/19th century, was sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2016, lot 1279.

蓋盒作仿生瓜果式，並以活環相連。外壁雕瓜葉及甲蟲，並借皮色作裝飾，細緻生動。苦瓜可能由於名稱不雅，在清宮檔案中常以「錦荔枝」為名記載，參看北京故宮藏一件清白玉雕苦瓜擺件，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器編9清代玉器》，北京，2011年，頁174，編號164；以瓜果為式樣的玉製蓋盒，見維多利亞及阿爾伯特博物館藏一件十八世紀青白玉雕壽桃蓋盒，著錄於M.Wilson，《Chinese Jades》，倫敦，2004年，頁56，圖版58。

苦瓜有「堅韌刻苦」、「苦盡甘來」之意，甲蟲在玉雕中則諧音「甲」，有「富甲天下」之意，可見此蓋盒設計之巧思。

見紐約佳士得曾售出一件十八/十九世紀青白玉雕苦瓜式蓋盒，2016年9月16日，拍品編號1279。