A FINE IMPERIAL INSCRIBED WHITE JADE THUMB RINGQianlongThe curved straight sides inscribed with a poem in clerical script and marked withQianlong yuti ('Qianlong's Imperialposition'), followed by theqian trigram and thelong seal, all framed by a keyfret border, the white translucent stone with natural inclusions, box.3cm (1 1/8in) diam.Provenance: 清乾隆 白玉御製詩扳指Provenance:Acquired in 2000s來源:入藏於2000年代The poem, titled 'Song for Jade Archer's Thumb Ring' and dated to 1757, can be translated as follows:Jade scrollends from some time ago,nursed and rotated in the hand (thinking if I could re-use them in somewhere else).The material can be used thrice,drawn from quarry of six jun [unit of measurement].Although the sayings are old,I am using them in my newlyposed poems (re-use of the painting scrollends is like using old sayings in new poems).I am like Su Shi (1037-1101) and his inkstone (who discovered a stone when he was 12 and re-used it as an inkstone),but I am not as good as him.White jade archer's thumb rings, such as this piece, were especially valued for their attractive quality and for the ring's association with the owner's Manchu identity. The form was derived from the archaistic she, worn on the right thumb to protect the archer from the bow string when discharging the arrow. They not only became part of the bannerman's indispensable paraphernalia but also a symbol of rank and wealth.The poem inscribed on the present thumb ring is listed in Qing gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji (Imperial Poems of the Qianlong Emperor) vol.2, juan 73 (see Figure 1), dated 1757. It wasposed by Emperor Qianlong in response to hismand to Imperial jade workshops to turn the jade painting scrollends into thumb rings. Thirteen Imperial poems are recorded to be inscribed on jade thumb rings, sometimes the same poem would have been found on two or more pieces.For examples of other Qianlong reign-marked jade thumb rings in the Qing Court Collection and still in Beijing, see a set of three jade exhibited in Jinxiang yuzhi: Qingdai gongting baozhuang yishu/Qing Legacies: The Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, Macao Museum of Art, Macau, 2000, no.98.扳指白玉為材，玉質細膩溫潤，整體圓筒形，兩側以回字紋束邊，其上刻有楷書御題詩一首：何年玉畫軸，飲手中規輪。可用資三獲，宕稱挽六鈞。取材率因舊，得句亦從新。比似蘇公硯，猶然愧古人。乾隆御題印文：「乾」、「隆」扳指或作搬指，原是射箭時，戴在拇指上便於拉弓扣弦的工具，源自先秦時期的韘形器，其後逐漸演變為具有裝飾功能的佩飾。清代皇室重視騎射，使用多種材質製作扳指用以佩帶使用，或玩賞收藏。目前查得銘刻在玉扳指的御製詩共有十三首，有時同一首詩會刻在兩件以上的扳指。此扳指上௚...