A very fine and rare pale green jade 'lotus pod' scroll-weight, zhenzhi


QianlongNaturalistically modelled as a large lotus pod with eleven circular seeds delicately carved in relief, borne on bundled curling stems issuing a lotus flower and furled lotus leaves to the base and side of the pod, the softly polished stone of a greenish-white tone, wood stand. 12.1cm (4 3/4in) wide (2).
|清乾隆 青白玉荷花蓮房鎮紙Provenance: An American private collection, purchased in New York in the 1930s, and thence by descentSotheby's New York, 11-12 September 2012, lot 297Marchant, LondonExhibited, Published and Illustrated: Marchant, 90th Anniversary Exhibition: Ninety Jades for 90 Years, London, 2015, no.6來源：美國私人舊藏，1930年代購於紐約，並由後人保存紐約蘇富比，2012年9月11-12日，拍品編號297倫敦Marchant展覽、出版及著錄：Marchant，《玉器九十，90週年特展》，倫敦，2015年，編號6The relatively larger size of the present lot indicates it may have been used not only as display or handling object but possibly as a scroll-weight for the scholar's desk. The naturalistic rendering of the lotus pod bursting with seeds represents the auspicious wish for fertility and speedy arrival of sons. Thus, it would have been suitable as a wedding present.Jade carvings in the form of a lotus seedpod are usually smaller in size, see an closely related example of smaller size from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (museum no.Gu-yu-000323); Another similar jade carving was unearthed in Zhejiang Province, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, Beijing, 2005, vol.8, p.239. A third smaller lotus pod and flower of this form, from the collection of The Governor of Manchuria, was included by Marchant in their 85th anniversary exhibition of Chinese Jades from Tang to Qing, 2010, p.35, no.18; Compare also a jade carving of lotus pods similarly depicted with seeds exposed, illustrated by René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection, Tokyo, 1977, pl.LI; another is illustrated by Xue Guisheng in Zhong Guo Yu Qi Shang Jian, 'Appreciation and Examination of Chinese Jades', p.319, no.618; see also a related white jade lotus pod carving, 18th century, from the collection of Lord Fairhaven at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (NT no.517571).青白玉質，透青厚潤，圓雕蓮蓬荷花，蓮蓬浮雕十一籽，蓮子頂上管鉆淺孔仿蓮尖，十分像生，蓮蓬下浮雕荷葉蓮莖纏繞，蓮莖截面鉆七孔，蓮蓬一側雕荷花一朵，花瓣肥碩層疊，瓣尖陰刻經脈，一絲不苟，荷葉翻轉，背面淺浮雕葉脈，幾若實物。乾隆平定准格爾部之後，和田玉料源源不斷輸入中原，且為官方名義上壟斷，故而清宮一時得以製作大件玉器。此件玉雕蓮蓬，體量碩大，應為乾隆時期拓土新疆之後的作品。有清一代上至宮廷，下至民間皆喜諧音吉祥題材，蓮蓬多籽，入題玉器則有多子多孫的寓意。可參考一件清宮舊藏玉蓮房，藏於台北故宮，館藏編號故-玉-000323；另有浙江出土的清代蓮蓬形玉飾，亦是蓮蓬與蓮花的組合，為民間物，見古方編，《中國出土玉器全集8·浙江卷》，北京，2005年，頁239；另一件類似但尺寸較小之例，見倫敦Marchant有限公司八十五週年特展《唐至清代中國玉雕》，2010年，頁35，編號18。 Avery Brundage舊藏一例，見René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé著錄《Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection》，東京，1977年，圖版LI；另見一清代青玉雕蓮蓬亦資參考，見《中國玉器賞鑒》，上海，2004年，頁319，編號618。另見劍橋Fairhaven爵士舊藏一件十八世紀白玉雕蓮房（館藏編號no.517571）。