This year we are fortunate to include in our jade catalogue a collection assimilated both in Asia and Europe during the post-war years by a discerning single owner. The carvings came into her possession through putting together a large number of Tang and Song ceramics and pottery. Consequently there are a number of animals and small figures, as one would expect to find during these periods.
The most interesting is the white jade dancer [ no.9 ]. In the Golden
Age of Chinese Archaeology, Celebrated Discoveries from the People's Republic of China, National Gallery of Washington, 1999; no.
144, page 423, there is a jade pei (pectoral) dated to the western Han dynasty, second century BC. It emerged from the tomb of the
Song/Ming bearded Central Asian figure
Catalogue Item No.9
King of Nanyue at Xianggang, Guangzhou, Guangdong province. One part of this pei is a jade dancer, of similar stance to our own,
with one arm thrown back over the head, a form of popular dance at the time. They, in turn, call to mind a set of figures said to
have come from Jincun in Luoyang, Henan province, and now in the Freer Gallery, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Fogg Art
Museum. The touch of darker jade to the bottom of the raised foot, the suggested lines of the body beneath the garments, and the
stoic central Asian face of the dancer combine to produce a performer in a trance.
The animals are numerous, and represent a diverse range of domestic, wild and imaginary beasts and birds. The range of colours in the jade is vast, and will encourage those for whom white jade is the holy grail to pause for thought, and reflect on the subtlety and imagination of the anonymous jade carvers of these centuries. The jade horse used supposedly as a seal grip, is an animal caught at the moment his head dips to pluck some grass, the fat haunches perfectly in proportion to the recumbent body.
The demon gueller [ no.7 ], with its translucent jade is a legendary
Warring States bi disc
Catalogue Item No.3
figure frozen in time, staring at the viewer, before resuming his eternal quest to subdue the horned devil at his feet. On many of
the jades, especially the birds and horses, the use of the russet skin is cleverly utilised. Through age, this has, in many
cases become a deep rich hue, that is impossible to replicate. This changing nature of the jade is reflected in
the bi disc [ no.3 ] on the front of the catalogue, and
a further one [ no.4 ] inside, which display a rich range of colouring from the
infusion of metals and chemicals in the soil, having been buried for a prolonged period of time.
An exhibition organized by The Arts Council of Great Britain and the Oriental Ceramic Society in June 1995 at the Victoria and
Albert Museum, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages. In chapter XV11, Figures of the Ming dynasty, 14-17th century, there are several
objects in the 15-20 cm length range, with our goose [ no.28 ].
Ming grey and celadon goose
Catalogue Item No.27
What is striking is that in spite of only a few being illustrated, the description of the colour of the jades is 'light grey with
brown mottling and black striations', 'whitish, variegated and mottled with light and dark brown', 'grey-green with grey and brown
striations'. As the author notes, 'the material used is varied and often curiously marked with a taste for strange contrasts',
(as with the dragons on our bird). Ming jades often placed more importance
on allusion, in comparison to previous eras. Also in the late Ming period, birds' wings and beaks were sometimes carved with
spirals, stars and circles. The dragon motif on the goose fits the first of these designs.
We have always endeavoured to buy yellow jade carvings where possible, and it is satisfying to include a wide range of forms in
this category. In the 16th-18th centuries a strong interest in the knowledge of the past existed, and the appreciation and use of
Qianlong archaistic pouring vessel
Catalogue Item No.63
objects, even scholarly objects, moved outside the studios of the academics, to the living quarters of the merchants and officials.
Not only was there collecting of ancient works of art, but the reuse of these old objects became an integral part of this
re-evaluation of the past. The archaistic pouring vessel [ no.63 ] and the model
of shoulao [ no.27 ] are examples of jades that satisfied the taste of the time
(17th/18th century), while utilising a colour that looked back to the 12th century. The yellow jade
ring [ no.69 ] presents a different picture in that it is inscribed with an
Archer's ring, Qianlong, with four character mark and of the period
Catalogue Item No.69
Imperial Qianlong poem that seems at first glance to have nothing to do with the object. However all becomes clear as the few
lines unfold, in short a furious diatribe directed by the Emperor to an errant official, for not only did he use works of art
such as this to extol the virtues of jade, but he used them as an opportunity to show his repugnance at the over commercialization
of the jade objects, and to realign the direction in which he wanted the jade market to go. Because jade was so prevalent by the
Qianlong spinach green carved brushpot depicting cranes
Catalogue Item No.71
middle of the eighteenth century, not only as carvings but also as jewellery, it may have lost some of its intellectual and
spiritual power and become one of the material luxuries indicative of secular power. New classes in society required objects to
define or redefine their roles. In the Ming and Qing periods jade vessels had become signs of wealth, of rank through imperial
favour and of access to the values of the past. The large spinach green
brushpot [ no.71 ], perhaps a wedding gift, with its auspicious design of cranes
and pine trees, would have signaled to the beneficiary of this gift, that he was receiving something of importance, both culturally
and socially.
We should like to thank Alan Tabor for his photography.
Christopher Knapton
Nader Rasti
Autumn 2005
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