
AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE AND RUSSET JADE CUP, ZHI Ming Dynasty
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AN ARCHAISTIC WHITE AND RUSSET JADE CUP, ZHI
Well carved in cylindrical form, raised on three mythical beast-head feet, one side with a circular ring-handle with upward curved flange, carved around the exterior with a continuous band of archaistic dragon and phoenix with angular scroll bodies reserved on a ground of bosses, all between key-fret borders around the foot and mouth rim, the stone of even pale white tone, wood stand. 9cm (3 1/2in) high. (2).
Footnotes
明 白玉仿古夔龍紋環把卮
Provenance:
A distinguished Asian private collection
來源:
亞洲顯赫私人收藏
Jade cups of this type are known as zhi, a shape that appears to have been influenced by lacquer examples from the late Warring States/Western Han period (206 BC-AD 9); see for example, a lacquer cup and cover, Western Han dynasty, in the Guimet Museum, Paris, illustrated by Huei-chung Tsao in Jade: From Emperors to Art Deco, Paris, 2016, p.118, no.96, where a similar jade cup, Ming dynasty, 16th/17th century, is also illustrated.
A drawing of a lacquer zhi cup, with a bronze cover, handle and banded tripod support, mid-Warring States period, excavated from Fuling, Sichuan Province, is illustrated by Suning Sun-Bailey, 'Gained in Translation', Chinese Jade: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-1996, pp.111-13, p.112, fig.3. The author notes that this type of vessel 'disappeared from the range of Chinese drinking vessels after the Han dynasty, only to be re-created and re-styled in jade more than 1500 years later'. The author illustrates two of these later archaistic jade examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Ming/Qing dynasty, p.111.
Another white jade zhi with cover and archaistic decoration, with a Lu Zigang mark, was found in a tomb in Beijing, dated to 1676, and is now in the Capital Museum, Beijing. Six of the jade carvings found in the tomb, including the cup and cover, are illustrated by S.Howard Hansford, Chinese Carved Jades, London, 1968, pl.83. The tomb is of the seven-year old daughter of the early Qing statesman Songgotu, who died in 1675. It contained objects of the late Ming period, and based on the date of the tomb the pieces may be dated to the Ming/Qing transitional period.
See a related pale greyish-white and brown jade archaistic cup, Ming dynasty, which was sold at Christie's New York, 13 September 2018, lot 948. See also another similar pale greenish-white jade archaistic cup and with cover, late Ming/early Qing dynasty, 16th-18th century, which was sold at Christie's New York, 18 March 2021, lot 630.
白玉質,玉中原有糖色,器形呈圓形筒狀,單鋬耳,鋬耳上陰刻如意雲紋。卮筒壁直口,身上浮雕四隻夔龍,幾何形身軀,兩兩相對。三獸蹄足,足上筒身部位有三個獸面紋,口沿及足上飾兩周回紋。
此拍品為明代仿古,卮本是周秦漢晉之際廣泛使用的飲食器,最主要特點就是圓筒形器身,直壁,深腹,有環形鋬耳或半環耳,有些有蓋,有些無蓋。銅卮、漆卮在漢代較為常見,以玉為卮則十分少見。《漢書·高帝紀下》有:「上奉玉卮為太上皇壽。」《史記·項羽本紀》:「項伯即入見沛公,沛公奉卮酒為壽。」表明玉卮為飲酒器,但不同於普通酒器,一般用於隆重的場面或酒宴。西漢漆卮和一件與此拍品類似的明代仿古玉卮的比對,見Tsao, Huei-chung編,《Jade: From Emperors to Art Deco》,巴黎,2016年,頁118,圖版96。
可參考一件明代灰白玉仿古拐子龍鳳紋玉卮,風格相近,2018年9月13日售於紐約佳士得,拍品編號948;紐約佳士得2021年3月18日售出一件明末或清初青白玉仿古拐子龍鳳紋玉卮亦資比較,拍品編號630。