WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

FINE AND RARE CHINESE 

WORKS OF ART AND CERAMICS 

WINTER EXHIBITION 

30 OCTOBER 2008 

Roger Keverne 

2nd Floor, 16 Clifford Street 

London W1S 3RG 

Telephone: 020 7434 9100 

Facsimile: 020 7434 9101 

enquiries@keverne.co.uk 

www.keverne.co.uk

INTRODUCTION 

We are pleased to present our 2008 Winter exhibition catalogue to coincide with 

Asian Art in London. We do hope that those who visit London this winter will 

come and see us, and view the exhibition. 

We are fortunate to offer for sale ceramics and works of art from many 

distinguished collectors; some we are able to name, while others prefer to 

remain anonymous. We have silver from the Cunliffe and Sackler collections; 

porcelains from the well-known collections of H. M. Knight, Ira and Nancy Koger 

and Hugo Munsterberg; jades from the collections of E. T. Chow, T. B. Walker and 

Neil Phillips; and, among particularly fine and rare examples of lacquer, objects 

from the collection of Ambassador Doullens, the French Ambassador to Beijing 

before 1914. Alfred and Ivy Clark were formidable collectors, generous hosts and 

donors to many museums, and we are showing a painted enamel dish that once 

belonged to them. Claude Gillot (1853–1903) is a name perhaps not greatly 

known to many outside France. He was a friend of Henri Vever and Samuel Bing, 

and had a natural eye, collecting across all cultures. We have bronzes, an imperial 

cloisonné enamel panel and a Ming pottery bowl from his collection. 

Having recently visited Beijing and seen the remarkable restoration work being 

done in the Qianlong Emperor’s retirement quarters – the Juanqinzhai (Studio of 

Exhaustion from Diligent Service) and the Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City 

– we feel privileged to be able to include a particularly rare lacquer vase made 

for the Chonghua gong (Palace of Double Brilliance), where he lived as a young 

man before his accession to the throne as the Qianlong Emperor. 

I would like to thank the following people for their hard work, dedication and 

enthusiasm in the production of this catalogue: Ken Adlard for the photography; 

Amanda Brookes for the design; Katharine Butler for co-ordinating the project; 

Anthony Evans for the translations; Paul Forty for the proofreading; Richard Owers 

of Beacon Press, a carbon neutral printer, for the printing; and Miranda Clarke for 

the catalogue preparation. I must add my profound thanks to Kerry Nguyen-Long 

for providing the research and background information on the Vietnamese imperial 

gold dish, and to Dr Tran Du Anh Son for translating its inscription; and also to 

Tuyet Nguyet and her son, Robin Markbreiter, of Arts of Asia, for kindly putting 

me in touch with them. 

Roger Keverne

CONTENTS 

METAL 5 

CERAMIC 39 

ENAMEL 67 

JADE & HARDSTONE 91 

ORGANIC 125 

TEXTILE 153 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 156 

CHRONOLOGY 160

metal

6 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008 

1 

An archaic bronze vessel (fangding ) 

Late Shang dynasty 

Height: 9P in, 25.1 cm 

the deep, rectangular-section vessel has flanged corners and an everted rim set with two loop 

handles on the shorter sides, and is supported on four robust cylindrical legs issuing from bold, 

horned monster masks against leiwen, bisected by short flanges. Each of the four faces is cast 

with a narrow frieze of two pairs of birds against leiwen, bisected by a vertical flange, above a 

rectangular panel and six rows of bosses. Distinct mould marks are visible on the base of the 

vessel. The surface is a greyish-green tone with extensive malachite and some cuprite and 

azurite encrustation. 

Formerly in a Western private collection. 

A very similar vessel, excavated in Qingdao, Shandong province, in 1986 is illustrated 

in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Quan (Bronze volume), no. 42, p. 13; and note another 

in Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935–6, no. 33, lent by the 

Chinese government. 

For two related examples with leiwen to the rectangular panel, see Chen, Ancient Chinese 

Bronzes in the Shanghai Museum, no. 23, p. 50; and Kao, Masterworks of Chinese Bronze in 

the National Palace Museum, Supplement, no. 7.

2 

An archaic bronze wine vessel (jue ) 

Late Shang dynasty 

Height: 9I in, 24.2 cm 

supported on three long, triangular-section, blade-like legs, the elegant ovoid body is cast 

with a frieze of two taotie masks against a leiwen ground; the masks are bisected by a vertical 

flange and a strap handle that issues from an animal mask. The long, curving spout is flanked 

by two semi-cylindrical posts with waisted caps decorated with horizontal bands and whorls. 

The vessel has a mellow patina with malachite and cuprite encrustation. 


A line drawing of a similar vessel is illustrated in Chang, “Li Kung-Lin and the Study of 

Antiquity in the Sung Dynasty”, pl. 16, p. 82, where it is noted that Li Kung-Lin “had two 

vessel types in his possession that he did not know what to call, and so he pored through 

the classics for references and named them chüeh (jue) and ku (gu), by which they are known 

to this day”. 

For related jue, see Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, no. 28; China: Cultuur 

Vroeger en Nu, no. 27, p. 37, in the collection of the Ostasiatiska Museet, Stockholm; 

and Finlay, The Chinese Collection: selected works from the Norton Museum of Art, no. 7, 

pp. 86–7. 

ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008 9

3 

An unusual bronze belt hook 

Warring States period or Han dynasty 

Length: 3K in, 9.2 cm 

the small hook is cast as a serpent’s head. 

The body bears an openwork design of a 

feline splitting open a scaly outer shell to 

retrieve a segmented, worm-like creature. 

A circular button, incised with characters, 

most probably reading Xin Han (a name), 

projects from the centre of the back and 

serves as a seal. The mellow bronze bears 

malachite and some cuprite encrustation. 

Two belt hooks, with buttons serving also as 

seals, are illustrated in Beningson and Liu, 

Providing for the Afterlife: “Brilliant 

Artifacts” from Shandong, no. 16, pp. 55–6; 

and in Wang, Belt Ornaments Through The 

Ages: Wellington Wang Collection, p. 123. 

For belt hooks of similar design, see 

Karlgren and Wirgin, Chinese Bronzes: 

The Natanael Wessén Collection, no. 50f, 

pl. 63, pp. 158–9; Rawson and Bunker, 

Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, 

no. 232, pp. 354–5; Watson, Handbook to 

the Collections of Early Chinese Antiquities, 

fig. 20f, p. 72; and Zhang, Zhongguo 

Qingtongqi Quanji, Vol. 8, no. 159, p. 141. 

4 

A fine gold- and silver-inlaid bronze 

belt hook 

Warring States period 

Length: 4 in, 10.2 cm 

the hook is simply decorated as an animal’s 

head. The broad body is cast in openwork 

as two stylised phoenixes, their curling 

bodies intricately entwined. The bronze is 

embellished with inlays of gold and silver 

and now bears malachite encrustation. A 

large circular button projects from the rear. 

For similar examples, see The Art of the 

Warring States Period, no. 148, p. 103; 

and Zhang, Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji, 

Vol. 9, no. 61, p. 64, unearthed in 1978 

from tomb no. 51 of the site of the ancient 

capital of Lu in Qufu, Shandong province.


5 

A very fine gold- and silver-inlaid bronze chariot finial 

Warring States period or Western Han dynasty 


of cylindrical form with three raised rings around the centre, decorated with simple inlay 

designs of silver vertical lines and gold S-scrolls. The upper and lower portions are decorated 

with broad friezes of complex, elegant, highly stylised bird scrolls in gold and silver inlay. 

The bronze surface is now a particularly attractive mellow reddish-brown tone. 

Formerly in the collection of Charles Gillot (1853–1903), bought in 1900 from Laurent Héliot, 

Paris, and sold at Maître Paul Chevallier, Paris, 8–13 February 1904, lot 1020 (label remaining 

on the outside at the base). 

A very similar example is illustrated in Huang, Artifacts in the Nanyue King’s Tomb of Western 

Han Dynasty, no. 63, p. 147. 

For further fittings with similar designs, see Hansford, The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art, 

Vol. I, fig. A52, pl. XXVI; Uldry, Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, 

nos. 65 and 66, p. 108; and Watson, Art of Dynastic China, fig. 296.

6 

A rare gold and bronze scholar’s knife 


Length: 6P in, 17.4 cm 

the curved bronze blade has a triangular 

section which thins towards the tip, and 

has a horizontal raised ridge to one side; 

it is heavily encrusted with malachite. 

The blade is fixed into a thick gold looped 

handle. 

A very similar bronze knife of the Spring 

and Autumn period, excavated in 1977 

from Gaozhuang M18, Fengxiang (site 

of a Qin capital), and now in the Shaanxi 

Provincial Archaeological Institute, is 

discussed in Portal, The First Emperor: 

China’s Terracotta Army, fig. 54, cat. no. 30, 

p. 64, where it is noted that they were used 

by officials for scraping off mistakes made 

when writing on wood slips, and note the 

detail from a terracotta official, fig. 53, 

cat. no. 24, pp. 64–5, of such a knife 

hanging from the belt. 

For such knives in bronze with gold 

handles, see The Art of the Warring States 

Period, no. 144, p. 101; and Zhongguo 

Wenwu Jinghua Da Quan (Bronze volume), 

no. 976, p. 271.

7 

ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008 15 

A bronze incense burner 

Western Han dynasty 

Diameter: 6G in, 16.2 cm 

the globular censer is supported on a waisted 

stem and stands in an integral tray with a 

flat base and shallow, sloping sides that 

turn sharply upwards and end in a flat rim. 

The cover of the censer (now fused to the 

bowl) is cast with a wide openwork scroll 

beneath a quatrefoil and is surmounted 

by a small finial in the form of a bird. 

The olive-green bronze bears heavy cuprite 

and malachite encrustation, now polished 

smooth on the bowl of the censer. 

For similar incense burners, see Lion- 

Goldschmidt and Moreau-Gobard, Chinese 

Art, no. 55, p. 83; Shi, Treasures from the 

Han, p. 79, in the collection of the Henan 

Provincial Museum; and Zhang, Zhongguo 

Qingtongqi Quanji, Vol. 12, no. 121, p. 123. 

A similar example lacking the tray is 

illustrated in Rawson and Bunker, Ancient 

Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, no. 44, 

pp. 140–1, where it is noted that this type 

of censer precedes the invention of the hill 

censer (boshanlu). 

8 

An unusual gilt-bronze cup and cover 


Height: 4 in, 10.2 cm 

of ovoid form and circular section, and 

supported on three cabriole legs. The 

widest part of the vessel is decorated with 

a thickened band and a central raised rib, 

and a circular handle is set to one side. 

The cover bears three small ring finials that 

double as feet when it is inverted. The bright 

gilt surface bears cuprite encrustation. 


This rare vessel is obviously closely related 

to a dui, a food offering vessel of two 

equal-sized matching halves, that made its 

appearance in the bronze repertory in the 

Eastern Zhou dynasty: see, for example, 

Trubner, Royal Ontario Museum: The Far 

Eastern Collection, no. 22, p. 28. Note also 

a related gilt-bronze ring-handled vessel 

illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da 

Quan (Bronze volume), no. 1084, p. 302.


9 

A very fine and rare turquoise-inlaid bronze buckle 


Diameter: 7 in, 17.8 cm 

the dish-shaped buckle is inlaid with a pale orange agate button in the centre. A narrow black 

lacquer band encloses the button and is inlaid with small pierced turquoise discs in a ray 

pattern on a ground of red lacquer trelliswork. This is further enclosed by a broad frieze of 

pierced turquoise discs. A triangular hook-and-hole fastener projects from the back of the 

buckle, set off-centre. The bronze is heavily encrusted with malachite and bears extensive 

textile remains where it was wrapped during burial. 

A very similar buckle, unearthed in burial no. 68 of Lijiashan, Jiangchuan county, Yunnan 

province, and now in the collection of the Lijiashan Bronze Museum, is illustrated in 

Dai et al, Hunting and Rituals: Treasures from the Ancient Dian Kingdom of Yunnan, no. 56, 

p. 101, and note also no. 69, pp. 118–19, an inlaid bronze buckle together with its gold belt, 

found in burial no. 51 of Lijiashan, where it is noted: “This belt accessory shows how lavishly 

Dian noblemen dressed, and tells us accurately how bronze buckles were worn. The incised 

rectangular hook at the back is a fastener, just like the hook of the belt. It also serves as a 

decorative feature.” 

For further examples, see Li, The Glorious Traditions of Chinese Bronzes: From the Anthony 

& Susan Hardy Collections and the Sze Yuan Tang, nos. 87 and 88, pp. 192–5; and Wang, 

Belt Ornaments Through The Ages: Wellington Wang Collection, p. 130.


10 

A gilt-bronze support in the form of a bear 


Height: 2D in, 5.8 cm 

the animal is seated with one leg 

outstretched and its forepaws raised. It has 

heavy brows, a broad open muzzle revealing 

its teeth, and chased areas representing fur. 

There is a tubular socket on its back. 


For an interesting essay on the subject of 

bears, which reached their height of 

popularity as visual motifs during the 

Western Han dynasty, see Wang, A Bronze 

Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China, 

pp. 87–91, where it is noted that the 

animals were associated with military 

prowess, shamanism and immortality. 

See Shih, The National Palace Museum 

Guidebook, p. 148, for a similar Han 

dynasty bronze bear-shaped zun vessel 

and a jade version dating to the Qianlong 

period. For further examples, see Donnelly, 

The Animal in Chinese Art, no. 377, fig. F, 

pl. 12, in the collection of the Seattle Art 

Museum; and Hájek and Forman, A Book 

of Chinese Art: Four thousand years of 

sculpture, painting, bronze, jade, lacquer 

and porcelain, no. 117. 

11 

A gilt-bronze TLV mirror 

Han dynasty 

Diameter: 5D in, 13.4 cm 

with a plain domed suspension loop 

surrounded by a quatrefoil within a square 

frame. The main frieze consists of symbols 

comparable to the letters T, L and V, eight 

small bosses and four pairs of birds in 

thread relief, all enclosed by a fourteencharacter 

inscription, which possibly reads 

“This mirror made by Shang Fang shields 

powerfully against harm, Its exquisitely 

carved craftsmanship attains distinction”, 

and a striated band. The raised rim is cast 

with two chevron bands. The decorative 

elements are gilt and the reflective bronze 

surface of the mirror is now heavily 

encrusted with malachite and cuprite. 


The TLV motif is also the game board 

pattern of liubo: see Chou, Circles of 

Reflection: The Carter Collection of Chinese 

Bronze Mirrors, pp. 3–4. 

For related TLV mirrors with gilt surfaces, 

see Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu 

Collection, no. 283, dated Eastern Han; 

Chou, op cit, no. 25, pp. 42–3, dated 

Western Han; The Crucible of Compassion 

and Wisdom: Special Exhibition Catalog of 

the Buddhist Bronzes of the Nitta Group 

Collection at the National Palace Museum, 

pl. 88, p. 294, dated Han; Lin, Clarified 

Beauty of Bronze Mirrors: Wellington Wang 

Collection, no. 53, p. 93, dated Eastern 

Han; and Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens, The Han 

Civilization of China, no. 139, p. 182, in 

the collection of the Tenri Museum, Japan, 

and dated circa AD 100.


12 

A fine bronze mirror 

Tang dynasty 

Diameter: 5I in, 14 cm 

heavily cast with eight pointed lobes and 

a thickened rim. A sunken frieze of four 

ducks in flight and floral sprays surrounds 

the knop, rendered as a crouching beast, 

and eight flowers decorate the border. 

The metal is a bright silver-grey, with some 

darker areas, mainly to the reflective side, 

and some bright malachite spots. 


Such mirrors were often given as wedding 

presents, and this example with ducks, that 

mate for life, would have been particularly 

suitable. 

For similar examples, see Bronze Articles 

for Daily Use: The Complete Collection of 

Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 173, 

p. 196; Catalogue of Special Exhibition 

of Bronze Mirrors in the National Palace 

Museum, pl. 110, pp. 202–03; and 

Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas 

Collections, Bronze I, no. 207, p. 210, in 

the collection of the Asian Art Museum of 

San Francisco.

13 


A rare, large silver-inlaid bronze mirror 

Tang dynasty 

Diameter: 7N in, 19.7 cm 

of circular form with a plain, domed 

suspension loop and a thickened rim. The 

mirror is inlaid on a lacquer ground with 

a sheet of silver cut with a design of birds 

in leafy scrolls about a hexafoil around the 

knop and with a lappet border, all with 

chased details. The reflective surface is 

now a dark gunmetal-grey colour. 


This mirror appears to be extremely rare, 

but for two Tang lacquer boxes decorated 

in similar style, see Gray et al, The Arts of 

the T’ang Dynasty, no. 353, fig. c, pl. 16; 

and Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in 

Overseas Collections, Lacquerware, no. 16, 

p. 16, in the Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art, 

Kansas City. Note also a related large box, 

dated eighth century, in Hayashi, The Silk 

Road and the Shoso-in, no. 127, p. 117.

22 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008

14 

A rare set of eleven gilt-bronze belt plaques 

Tang dynasty 

Maximum length: 3D in, 8.2 cm 

nine of rectangular form and two longer end plaques, each with one curved side. Each of the 

smaller plaques is cast with a Central Asian musician seated on a fringed mat; the figure has 

an incised beard and hair, curled behind, draped robes and a long, billowing scarf. Four of the 

musicians play the paiban (clappers) and five the sheng (pipe harmonica). The two end pieces 

are similarly decorated with pairs of figures playing the sheng. The backs of the plaques have 

four pins for attachment and the fronts are gilt, with some malachite encrustation. 


Examples of the sheng have been recovered from the tomb of Marquis Yi of the state of Zeng 

(circa 433 BC) and are discussed by Feng Guangsheng in So, Music in the Age of Confucius, 

pp. 87–99. 

A similar set of eleven belt plaques is illustrated in Bronze Articles for Daily Use: 

The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 178, p. 201. 

Such plaques are more often found in jade: see, for example, Michaelson, Gilded Dragons: 

Buried Treasures from China’s Golden Ages, fig. 65, pp. 105–06, for a set of sixteen, excavated 

in 1970 from Hejiacun in the southern suburbs of Xi’an, Shaanxi province, and now in the 

Shaanxi History Museum; and Watt, The Arts of Ancient China, fig. 75, p. 59, for a set of ten. 



15 

A fine gold hairpin 

Song or Yuan dynasty 

Length: 6G in, 16.2 cm 

with two slightly wavy flattened pins. The 

U-shaped top is decorated with graduated 

rings. 

Very similar examples are illustrated in 

Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in the 

Carl Kempe Collection, no. 28, pp. 82–3; 

and in Uldry, Chinesisches Gold und 

Silber: Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, 

no. 291, p. 242. Note also four related gold 

hairpins in Song Yun: Sichuan Yao Cang 

Wenwu Jicui, pp. 108–09, dated Southern 

Song dynasty.

16 

A fine parcel-gilt silver box and cover 

Tang dynasty 


of circular form with a domed top and 

bottom, and straight sides. The top is finely 

decorated with a design of two mandarin 

ducks, perched on broad flowers borne on 

leafy stems, amid other leafy branches, and 

with leaf scrolls to the sides, all gilt with 

chased details, on a finely ring-punched 

ground. The box is similarly decorated. 

A very similar silver example is illustrated 

in Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in 

the Carl Kempe Collection, no. 94, 

pp. 146–7. 

For related parcel-gilt silver boxes, 

see Kelley, Chinese Gold and Silver in 

American Collections: Tang Dynasty 

AD 618–907, no. 36, p. 69; Uldry, 

Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die 

Sammlung Pierre Uldry, no. 167; and 

Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Quan 

(Metal, Jade, Stone volume), no. 89, p. 117. 

17 

A small silver box and cover 

Tang dynasty, 7th–8th centuries 

Diameter: 1P in, 4.8 cm 

of circular form with straight sides and a 

shallow, domed base and cover. The top 

and base are chased and engraved with 

birds perched on a leafy, floral scroll, and 

the sides with cloud scrolls, all on a dense, 

ring-matted ground. 

Formerly in the Cunliffe collection, 

no. A115. 

For related boxes, see Gyllensvärd, Chinese 

Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 

nos. 91 and 92, pp. 144–5; Kelley, Chinese 

Gold and Silver in American Collections: 

Tang Dynasty AD 618–907, no. 35, p. 69; 

and Trubner, “The Arts of the T’ang 

Dynasty”, no. 353. 



18 

A rare parcel-gilt silver tray 

Liao or Jin dynasty 

Length: 6N in, 17.2 cm 

of quatrefoil form with low, flaring sides and an everted flange rim. The dish is decorated 

with a design of two phoenixes amid leafy, flowering aster. The birds have delicately chased 

feathers and long ribbon tails. The flange rim is decorated with a classic scroll chased in dotted 

lines. The decoration bears the remains of a gilt wash. 

Exhibited: Eskenazi, Early Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 1974, no. 22. 

Formerly in the Sackler collection, no. 66, and in a Western private collection. 

A silver tray of this shape, found in a hoard of silver vessels, circa 1100, near Bairin Youqi, 

Inner Mongolia, is illustrated in Wenwu, 1980, no. 5, p. 58. For a cup decorated with a 

similar chased dotted-line scroll on the handle, see Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold & Silver in 

the Carl Kempe Collection, no. 136, pp. 208–09.


19 

An unusual silver-inlaid bronze incense 

burner in the form of a scholar 

17th–18th centuries 


the scholar sits on a low throne, holding a 

book in his right hand. He wears a robe, 

with voluminous sleeves, inlaid in silver 

wire with a dragon, clouds and leafy 

scrolls, and an official’s hat and belt, also 

inlaid in silver wire. The gentleman has a 

long beard and moustache, and his features 

bear a thoughtful expression. At the front of 

the chair is a drawer for the incense with a 

mask pull, and the back is pierced with 

three roundels, for the release of the 

incense smoke, which could also escape 

through holes in the front of his robe. 

Formerly in the collection of Charles Gillot 

(1853–1903), and sold at Maître Paul 

Chevallier, Paris, 8–13 February 1904, 

lot 1006. 

Simple bronze figures of scholars are 

well documented, but this example, seated 

on a throne which doubles as the incense 

receptacle and burner, appears to be 

very rare.

20 

An unusual bronze vase 



standing on a conical foot ring, the low, 

globular body rises to a slender, cylindrical 

neck and terminates in an everted rim. The 

vase is decorated with flowering prunus, 

with chased details, rising from rockwork, 

and with a classic scroll around the foot. 

The base is incised with a three-character 

mark, reading Yong bao yong (For use as a 

treasure forever). The metal is a deep olive 

tone, apart from a brighter area around the 

neck where it has been handled. 

A similar, although much smaller, example 

is illustrated in Mowry, China’s Renaissance 

in Bronze: The Robert H. Clague Collection 

of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100–1900, 

no. 33, pp. 164–6, and is accompanied by 

an interesting essay. 

This pattern is, of course, well known on 

Kangxi ceramics: see, for example, Gardner 

Neill, The Communion of Scholars: Chinese 

Art at Yale, no. 36, pp. 84–5; and Honey, 

The Ceramic Art of China and Other 

Countries of the Far East, pl. 121, in the 

collection of the Victoria and Albert 

Museum.


21 

A fine gilt-bronze figure of a Buddhist acolyte 

Late Ming dynasty 


standing, leaning slightly forwards, with his hands held together before him. His head is tilted 

upwards and his features bear a happy, smiling expression; his hair is cast in three topknots 

with chased details and he wears an earring. He is dressed in long robes, tied about the chest 

and waist, and a scarf, falling over his shoulders and around his arms to the ground; the edges 

of the scarf and the back of the apron are chased with lotus flowers on a ring-punched ground, 

and scrolls. Traces of original pigments remain to the head. 

This acolyte is often known as Golden Boy, and is an attendant of Guanyin. 

For a related gilt-bronze example, see d’Argencé, Chinese Korean and Japanese Sculpture, 

The Avery Brundage Collection, no. 115, pp. 294–5, dated Song; and, for a Qing version, see 

Palace Museum, 50 Selected Gems of Cultural Relics – newly collected in the Palace Museum 

in the last fifty years, no. 168, pp. 130–1. Note also a large Song dynasty wood example 

illustrated in Priest, Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pl. CXII, cat. no. 65.


22 

A rare gilt-bronze box and cover 

Ming dynasty 


made in imitation of a tixi lacquer example. 

The domed box and cover are of circular 

section and are cast with three large ruyishaped 

designs resembling pommel scrolls. 

The interior is lacquered brownish-black. 

A red lacquer example of this form is 

illustrated in Dam-Mikkelsen and 

Lundbaek, Ethnographic Objects in The 

Royal Danish Kunstkammer 1650–1800, 

no. Edc47a, pp. 195–6. 

23 

An unusual gold-splashed bronze vase 

18th century 

Height: 6G in, 16.2 cm 

of circular form, the sides flare slightly 

towards the shoulder, which is set with two 

simplified archaistic masks suspending 

loose rings, turn inwards to a waisted neck 

and end in a rolled lip. Archaistic motifs 

decorate the vase: a narrow band of small 

lotus lappet above a frieze of two pairs of 

confronting serpents on a leiwen ground, 

and four large hanging cicada blades. The 

mellow coffee-brown surface is liberally 

splashed with gold.

24 


A good gold-splashed bronze 

incense burner 



heavily cast and supported on a moulded 

spreading foot ring, the compressed 

globular body rises to an everted rim; two 

lion-mask handles with chased details are 

set on the sides. The mellow brown surface 

is liberally splashed with gold. The base is 

cast with an apocryphal Xuande mark within 

a rectangular cartouche. 

See Lin, Chinese Incense Burners: 

Collection of Steven Hung & Lindy Chern, 

no. 199, p. 146, for a similar gold-splashed 

example; and Huang, Jinyu Qingyan, 

nos. 195 and 196, p. 250, for plain bronze 

versions.


25 

A fine bronze model of a mythical beast 



heavily cast and powerfully modelled, 

the lion-like animal is depicted walking, 

with its head slightly turned over its left 

shoulder. It has a single horn, incised 

eyebrows, ruff, beard and hair on its legs, 

small ears, large eyes, an open mouth 

revealing its tongue and teeth, and a long 

curling tail. The bronze has a mellow 

reddish-brown surface. 

Mowry discusses such late Ming small 

bronze mythical beasts, that were used as 

paperweights, in China’s Renaissance in 

Bronze: The Robert H. Clague Collection 

of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100–1900, 

nos. 45–7, pp. 200–02. 

26 

A fine and unusual parcel-gilt bronze 

incense burner 

17th century 

Diameter: 4I in, 11.5 cm 

standing on three tapering feet, the vessel 

has S-shaped sides, and two loop handles 

are set on the rim. The sides are decorated 

with Bo gu (One Hundred Antiques), gilt 

and with chased details, reserved on a 

ring-matted ground. A square gilt cartouche 

on the base is incised with four characters, 

reading Hui wen tang cang (Collection of 

Gracious Literacy or Collection of Zhao 

Crown Hall). 

The term Huiwen was originally used for a 

type of crown worn by King Wuling in the 

Zhou period state of Zhao. 

A cylindrical censer with very similar 

decoration is illustrated in Lin, Chinese 

Incense Burners: Collection of Steven Hung 

& Lindy Chern, no. 140, p. 166. Note also 

a circular bronze box decorated with the 

Hundred Antiques, in the Ji Zhen Zhai 

collection, in Fang, Treasures of the 

Chinese Scholar, p. 100.

27 

A very fine, rare and important Vietnamese solid gold basin 

Nguyen dynasty, 19th century 


with very slightly rounded sides and a wide, flat rim ending in a rolled lip. The centre is 

chased and engraved with a confronting, scaly, five-clawed dragon amid clouds against a 

dense, ring-matted ground. The rim is similarly decorated with four cartouches, each 

containing a running dragon, reserved against a floral diaper, and all against fine ring-matting. 

The underside of the rim bears an inscription, reading: “Gold: 8.5 tuoi, weight: 35.68 taels. 

Crafted by artisan Han and artisan Tu on royal order.” 

By repute taken from the imperial city of Hue in 1887, then in the collection of Ralph Marty 

and sold in 1926. 

Tuoi is a reference to the gold’s purity, in this instance 85%, and the dish weighs 

1358.704 grams. 

The dish would have been placed on an altar, filled with water by an attendant, and used 

by the king for ceremonial washing. 

The system of craft workshops implemented by the Nguyen Lords (1558–1789) in Cochinchina 

followed that of the Le dynasty (1428–1789) in the north. However, in the seventeenth and 

eighteenth centuries, Cochinchina was wealthy in comparison with northern Tonkin, and the 

handicraft units (tuong cuc ) were an active element of the Nguyen Lords’ armed forces. The 

craft workshop structure was maintained and strengthened during the Nguyen dynasty 

(1802–1945), with many dozens of units under the direct control of the court. King Minh Mang 

(1820–40) established The Gold and Silversmith Unit in 1834. Teams of craftsmen were 

recruited throughout the country to support the master craftsmen who were in permanent 

service to the king. Having completed six months’ service each year, the teams were free to 

return to their village. There were also private handicraft units that, having been granted a 

licence by the provincial head, provided services on a contractual basis. 

Many of the famous goldsmiths working in the royal capital of Hue came from Ke Mon 

village. Oral tradition has it that the jewellery trade in Ke Mon started in the second half of the 

eighteenth century. The Hue historian, Nguyen Huu Thong, writes that most gold and silver 

products made for the king and elite during the Nguyen dynasty were crafted in Ke Mon. 

The gold ore was brought from the mines and treated in the village. 

After the signing of the Treaty of Saigon in 1862 between the French government and King Tu 

Duc (1847–83), the Vietnamese had to pay reparations, and Tu Duc ordered the gold in the 

kingdom to be paid into the treasury to meet these obligations. Following the intervention of 

the French, the workshops of the handicraft units were disrupted, and the goldsmiths’ units 

ceased operations in 1862. When French troops occupied the imperial city in 1885, there was 

looting of cultural material, including gold objects. 

It is highly probable that this basin was made at Ke Mon village. Because of the closure of 

the goldsmiths’ units, the end-date for this vessel is 1862. It is not possible to be more 

precise about dating or to know which king ordered its manufacture, but Tu Duc would fit 

the historical facts. 

We are indebted to Kerry Nguyen-Long for providing the research and background information 

on this dish, and to Dr Tran Du Anh Son for translating the inscription.


28 

An unusual pewter tray 

17th century 


of circular form with flared sides decorated 

with a horizontal rib on the outside. The 

well is incised with a lady and a gentleman 

seated on soft-matted stools, playing flutes 

in a garden setting with a large phoenix, 

holding lingzhi fungus in its beak, flying 

amid clouds before the sun. To one side is 

a table with a qin, an incense burner and 

vases upon it, beside a large rock and a 

banana tree; to the other side is leafy 

bamboo and in the foreground are further 

vases, rocks and a table. The decoration is 

enhanced by washes of copper and brass 

and the rim is edged with brass. 

A box and cover of similar size, illustrated 

in Etains de Chine: Collection Ena et Henry 

Maertens de Noordhout, no. 5, pp. 26–7, 

bears similar decoration. 

This type and style of subject is well known 

on porcelain of the seventeenth century.

ceramic

29 

A good pottery jar 


Height: 8D in, 21 cm 

with a globular body spreading towards the 

flat base with a neatly cut bevelled edge, 

a waisted neck and an everted, slanted lip. 

The charcoal-grey body is decorated with 

burnished bands and two narrow friezes of 

chevrons around the shoulder. 

This dating is consistent with Oxford 

Authentication’s report C108c35. 

Formerly in the collection of 

Hugo Munsterberg. 

This type of dark grey ceramic with 

burnished decoration has been found in 

the excavations of the ancient city and 

royal tombs of the state of Zhongshan of 

the Warring States period: see, for example, 

Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics, 

Tomb of Cuo, The King of the Zhongshan 

State in the Warring States Period, 

pls. 19–24. 

Very similar examples are illustrated in The 

Charles B. Hoyt Collection, nos. 13 and 14, 

p. 4; and in White and Otsuka, Pathways 

to the Afterlife: Early Chinese Art from the 

Sze Hong Collection, no. 27, pp. 66–7. 

For similarly decorated vessels of different 

forms, see The Ceramic Art of China, 

no. 12, pl. 10; and Krahl, Chinese Ceramics 

from the Meiyintang Collection, 

Vol. Three (1), no. 1099, p. 88. 

30 


A glazed pottery handled bowl 

Eastern Han dynasty 


standing on a slightly tapering solid foot, 

the sides of the U-shaped vessel contract 

slightly below the everted rim. A handle 

carved in the form of a stylised dragon’s 

head is set to one side. Apart from three 

spur marks on the rim that reveal the red 

earthenware body, the vessel is covered 

with a deep olive-green glaze. 

The animal’s head bears a remarkable 

resemblance to that of the Chinese alligator. 

For similar examples with less exaggerated 

handles, see Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: 

The Koger Collection, no. 5, p. 25; 

The Charles B. Hoyt Collection, no. 45, 

p. 12; Lau, Spirit of Han, no. 125, p. 134; 

Sato, Chinese Ceramics: A Short History, 

fig. 34, p. 28; and Valenstein, A Handbook 

of Chinese Ceramics, no. 42, p. 51.


31 

A rare glazed pottery lamp 

Late Northern dynasties, circa late 6th century 


the very slightly waisted cylindrical vessel has a wide, sloping flange rim, incised with a leaf 

scroll, and is supported on a tall stem. The upper part of the stem is applied with three figures 

of seated lion-like animals with bushy eyebrows and long manes; the lower part is bell-shaped 

and pierced with three shaped cartouches separated by applied rosettes. With the exception of 

a patch inside the vessel and the interior of the stem, a glossy deep green glaze, degraded and 

crackled in places and with oily iridescence on the rim, covers the reddish earthenware. 

This dating is consistent with Oxford Authentication’s report C106n48. 

The closest comparison to this rare vessel is a lamp with green and brown glazes and sculptural 

felines in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Valenstein, A Handbook of 

Chinese Ceramics, no. 48, pp. 54–5, and again in Valenstein, Cultural Convergence in the 

Northern Qi Period: A Flamboyant Chinese Ceramic Container, fig. 49, p. 116.

32 

A pair of glazed pottery horses and riders 

Sui or early Tang dynasty 

Height: 12K in, 32.1 cm 

the horses are ridden by an elegant young 

lady and a gentleman. She wears a highwaisted 

robe, falling in narrow pleats, and 

a shawl over her shoulders; her features 

are well defined and she has an elaborate 

hairstyle. The gentleman wears a robe with 

lapels over boots and his hair is bound in 

a cloth headdress; he looks upward, as if a 

bird of prey is about to land on his raised 

right arm. The horses stand four-square on 

pottery bases; they have characteristically 

large heads, arching necks, long tails and 

incised manes. They wear bridles, and saddles 

with saddlecloths, his with a tiger-skin 

pattern, and stirrups. The cream 

earthenware is covered with straw glaze 

and bears the remains of original cold 

pigments. 


Authentication’s report C108p52. 

An early Tang example excavated in 

Luoyang in 1990 is illustrated in Yu and 

Zhou, Luo Yang Tao Yong, p. 284; and note 

also Baker, Appeasing the Spirits: Sui and 

Tang Dynasty Tomb Sculpture From The 

Schloss Collection, nos. 23–8, pp. 26–7, 

where it is noted that similar figures were 

found in the tomb, dated 657, of Zhang 

Shigui at Liquan, Shaanxi province.

33 


An unusual painted pottery figure 

of a foreign groom 

Tang dynasty 


standing on a pottery base, his right arm 

is raised as if holding a rope. He wears a 

closely fitting, round-necked, knee-length 

robe, tied at the waist, and boots. His hair 

is incised to simulate plaiting, and twisted 

into a coil about his head. His round face 

is very well depicted with wide cheeks, 

closed eyes with wrinkles to the sides, a 

broad, small nose and full lips. The buffgrey 

pottery bears the remains of original 

pigments. 


Authentication’s report C108p74. 

For related figures, but all glazed and 

wearing tunics with wide lapels, see 

Caroselli, The Quest for Eternity: Chinese 

Ceramic Sculptures from the People’s 

Republic of China, no. 65, p. 132, a slightly 

larger example excavated in 1971 from the 

tomb of Prince Zhanghuai in Qian county, 

Shaanxi province, and now in the Qianling 

Museum, Shaanxi province; Schloss, 

Ming-Ch’i: Clay Figures Reflecting Life in 

Ancient China, no. 78, in the collection of 

the Brooklyn Museum; and Treasures of 

Chang’an: Capital of the Silk Road, no. 72, 

pp. 194–5, a smaller example unearthed in 

1960 from the tomb of Princess Yongtai in 

Qian county, Shaanxi province, and now 

in the collection of the Shaanxi Historical 

Museum.

34 

An unusual stoneware jar 

Tang dynasty 

Height: 8B in, 20.6 cm 

supported on a solid foot with a bevelled 

edge, the sides flare steeply to a high shoulder, 

curve inwards to a short, waisted neck and 

terminate in a rolled, unglazed rim; two 

loop handles are applied to the shoulder. 

The buff stoneware body is covered with 

translucent olive-green glaze, falling 

unevenly well short of the foot, suffused 

with large splashes of milky-blue. 


Authentication’s report C108j64. 


This type of jar was made at the Huangdao 

kiln in Jia county, Henan province, which 

was discovered in 1964. 

For a very similar example, see Porcelain of 

the Jin and Tang Dynasties: The Complete 

Collection of Treasures of the Palace 

Museum, no. 175, p. 190; and note also 

White and Otsuka, Pathways to the 

Afterlife: Early Chinese Art from the Sze 

Hong Collection, fig. 41a, p. 93, where it is 

noted that “There is evidence that at least 

some of the splashed glazes were applied 

while the jar was upside-down.” 

35 


An unusual sancai-glazed pottery ewer 

Tang dynasty 


supported on a conical foot ring with a 

neatly bevelled edge, the sides round to 

a straight, thickened waist, then curve at 

the shoulder to an upright mouth. A short, 

cylindrical spout is set on the shoulder. 

The interior is glazed amber and the 

exterior is splashed with blue, amber 

and green glazes, stopping in a neat line 

at the waist to reveal the fine cream 

earthenware body. 

This dating is consistent with Oxford’s 

report 766t14. 


This particularly rare example is obviously 

based on a metal original, as such spouted 

vessels are usually globular in shape: see, 

for example, Krahl, Chinese Ceramics 

from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. One, 

no. 261, p. 151. Note a covered box in 

The Charles B. Hoyt Collection, no. 120, 

p. 31, also of metal shape and with a very 

similar glaze.


36 

A pair of glazed pottery vases 

Liao dynasty 


each ovoid vessel flares slightly towards the foot, with a recessed base, and has a tapering, 

cylindrical neck, issuing from a moulded phoenix head, and a cup-shaped mouth with a foliate 

rim. The only other adornment is pairs of incised lines. Apart from the bases that reveal the 

buff pottery, the vases are covered in white slip and crackled amber glaze. 

This dating is consistent with Oxford’s report 766e81. 

It appears to be extremely rare to find a pair of such vases, and this example is particularly 

well matched. 

For single vessels, see Egami, Three-Colour Ware, no. 67, in the collection of the Liaoning 

Provincial Museum; Medley, T’ang Pottery and Porcelain, pl. 131, p. 135, in the collection of 

the Honolulu Academy of Arts; and Shen, Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire 

(907–1125), no. 106, pp. 338–9, from the walled city of Qingzhou, Suoboriga Township, Balin 

Right Banner and now in the Museum of Balin Right Banner, and note the interesting discourse 

on the origins of these vases. 

See also an example in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I): The Complete Collection of 

Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 241, p. 266, with the more usual type of glaze that stops 

well short of the foot.


37 

A small porcelain cup 

Jiajing mark and period 

Diameter: 2K in, 6.7 cm 

the U-shaped cup is supported on a slightly 

tapering foot ring. The sides are painted in 

underglaze blue with two pairs of fish 

swimming amid waterweeds, and the well 

with a five-petalled blossom. The concave 

base bears the six-character mark of the 

Jiajing Emperor, and of the period. 

A very similar cup is illustrated in our 

Winter 2006 catalogue, no. 47, p. 50. 

For a stem cup with similar fish decoration, 

see Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the 

British Museum, no. 9:5, p. 218. 

38 

A rare porcelain ewer 

Ming dynasty, 16th century 


the globular vessel has a recessed base, a 

short, waisted neck and a thickened lip. 

An S-form spout is set to one side. The 

ewer is freely painted in underglaze blue 

with a broad frieze of seven Daoist figures 

on a terrace; several carry gourds, one a 

fly-whisk, one a fan, one reads a scroll and 

one carries books; they are dressed in loose 

robes. Six large lappets filled with various 

diapers encircle the shoulder, and another 

six, alternately filled with wan diaper and 

half lotus blooms, surround the foot. Leaf 

scrolls decorate the spout and flower scrolls 

the neck. The shoulder is pierced with four 

holes for the attachment of silver mounts. 

Formerly in the collection of the Norton 

Museum of Art, Florida. 

A closely related ewer in the collection of 

the Capital Museum, Beijing, is illustrated 

in Shoudu Bowuguan Cang Ci Xuan, 

no. 131, p. 137. Note also a blue and 

white incense burner of the Longqing period, 

dated 1571, bearing similar decoration, 

illustrated in Wu, Earth Transformed: 

Chinese Ceramics in the Museum of Fine 

Arts, Boston, pp. 128–9.

39 

A porcelain rouleau vase 

Chongzhen period 

Height: 18I in, 47 cm 

of cylindrical form, slightly tapering towards the base, with a flaring mouth. The sides are 

painted in shades of underglaze blue with a soldier, wearing layered robes, carrying a bow. 

He is accompanied by three attendants, wearing baggy tunics and trousers: one carries a 

large lotus leaf, one a lantern and the third drops three cash, all in a rock- and plant-strewn 

landscape, with steep hills amid clouds in the distance. The neck is painted with pendent 

leaves. Bands of finely incised lines surround the foot and shoulder. 

Formerly in a European private collection. 

This type of rouleau can be precisely dated by comparison with similar vases bearing 

inscriptions: see, for example, Kilburn, Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, no. 60, 

dated 1637; and Riddell, Dated Chinese Antiquities 600–1650, fig. 100, p. 112, dated 1638. 

For similar vases decorated with figures, see du Boulay, Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese 

Ceramics, fig. 4, p. 194, originally the property of King William IV; Emerson, Chen and Gates, 

Porcelain Stories from China to Europe, pl. 10.3, pp. 116–17; and White, Chen and Wang, 

Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler 

Collections: Beauty’s Enchantment, no. 24, pp. 112–13. 


40 

An unusual porcelain table screen 

Kangxi period 

Height of screen: 7N in, 19.8 cm 

of rectangular form with thickened rims. 

The screen is painted in the famille-verte 

palette with three boys playing on a terrace 

to one side, and with flowers, a rock and 

butterflies to the other. Green and yellow 

diaper borders surround both scenes. In a 

carved and pierced wood stand. 

A very similar screen with an identical 

diaper border is illustrated in Kerr and 

Allen, The World in Colours: An exhibition 

of ceramics with coloured decoration dated 

from 700 to 1920 belonging to members 

of the Oriental Ceramic Society, no. 108, 

p. 56. 

41 

A good wucai porcelain jar and cover 

Shunzhi period 

Height: 13N in, 34.9 cm 

the jar has a wide shoulder and a very 

slightly flaring, tall neck, and spreads 

towards the flat base with a bevelled edge. 

The domed cover has an onion-form knop. 

The vessel is painted in overglaze enamels 

and underglaze blue with ladies on a terrace. 

The main figure is seated and watches a 

dancer accompanied by three musicians, 

playing a flute, a sheng (pipe harmonica) 

and a drum. She is attended by two young 

women holding fans, and another carrying 

a wrapped qin. A large rock and a banana 

tree mark the end of the scene. A frieze of 

cracked ice surrounds the shoulder, and the 

neck is painted with rocks and camellia 

sprays. The cover is decorated with three 

young boys playing in a rocky landscape. 

For similar examples, see Cox, The Book of 

Pottery and Porcelain, Vol. I, pl. 145, fig. b, 

in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum 

of Art, New York; He, Chinese Ceramics: 

The New Standard Guide, no. 644, p. 301; 

Jakobsen and Sørensen, Empire of the 

Dragons: Chinese Art Treasures through 

4000 years from Hong Kong, Sweden and 

Denmark, no. 135, p. 125; Jörg, Chinese 

Ceramics in the Collection of the 

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Ming and 

Qing Dynasties, no. 75, pp. 84–5; 

Setterwall, Fogelmarck and Gyllensvärd, 

The Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm, 

p. 163, in the Yellow Room; and Zhang, 

Complete Collection of Ceramic Art 

Unearthed in China, Vol. I, no. 230, in 

the collection of the Beijing Institute of 

Cultural Relics.


42 

A porcelain brush pot (bitong) 

Kangxi period, dated by ink inscription 

1706 


of cylindrical form with a wide, concave 

foot and a small, recessed base glazed 

white. The vessel is painted with a spray 

of flowers, leaves, bamboo and rocks, and 

butterflies, in the famille-verte palette, and 

with a leaf and a seal mark, reading Linju 

(Forest dweller) in iron-red. An unglazed 

ring on the foot bears an ink inscription 

dated the sixth month of the forty-fifth year 

of Kangxi (corresponding to 1706). 

A similar brush pot also bearing an ink 

inscription, dated 1720, is illustrated in 

our Winter 2006 exhibition, no. 60, p. 61, 

and also in Wiesner, Chinesische Keramik: 

Meisterwerke aus Privatsammlungen, 

no. 131, p. 179. 

For further examples, see Li, Mingmo 

Qingchu Ci Bitong Bianwei Shizhen, 

pp. 82–3; and Porcelains in Polychrome 

and Contrasting Colours: The Complete 


Museum, no. 89, p. 97.

43 

A pair of porcelain dishes 

Kangxi period 

Diameter: 13N in, 35 cm 

with slightly flared rims and supported on 

tapering, channelled feet. The dishes are 

painted in the famille-verte palette, each 

with a central Buddhist lion, a wang (king) 

character on its forehead, and a brocade 

ball, surrounded by a pair of birds, 

butterflies, stylised lotus and shaped lappets 

filled with half blooms, all enclosed by a 

border of four shaped cartouches of flowers 

reserved against a diaper ground embellished 

with more flowers. The exterior sides are 

painted with simple tied flower scrolls, 

and the base with a lingzhi fungus within 

double circles in underglaze blue. 

A dish decorated in famille-verte enamels 

with a similar Buddhist lion and a lingzhi 

mark to the base is illustrated in Jörg, 

Jan Menze van Diepen Stichting: 

A Selection from the Collection of Oriental 

Ceramics, no. 70, pp. 106–07.

44 

A pair of porcelain vases (meiping ) 

Ming dynasty, late 15th century 


supported on broad, shallow feet, the 

vessels have elegantly waisted sides rising 

to globular shoulders and tapering mouths 

with thickened lips. They are covered in 

milk-white glaze. 

Formerly in the Koger collection, and one 

illustrated in Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: 

The Koger Collection, no. 53, pp. 76–7. 

A related pair of white meiping, with taller 

necks and slightly more waisted bodies, 

from the Hongwu period, excavated in 

the 1960s from a tomb in Rugao county, 

Jiangsu province, and now in the Nantong 

City Museum, is illustrated in Zhang, 

Complete Collection of Ceramic Art 

Unearthed in China, Vol. 7, no. 180, 

p. 180. 

45 

A pair of biscuit models of parrots 

Kangxi period 


seated on pierced and moulded rockwork 

bases. The parrots have hooked beaks, 

protruding eyes, neatly folded wings and 

clawed, scaly feet; the heads and bodies 

with incised details. The birds are decorated 

on the biscuit with emerald-green, black 

and yellow enamels. 

For related figures of parrots, see Ayers, 

The Chinese Porcelain Collection of Marie 

Vergottis, nos. 70–2, pp. 94–5; du Boulay, 

Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese 

Ceramics, figs. 2–4, p. 299; Hobson, 

The Eumorfopoulos Collection, Vol. V, 

no. E182, pl. XXXIV; Sargent, The Copeland 

Collection: Chinese and Japanese Ceramic 

Figures, no. 38, pp. 92–3; and Setterwall, 

Fogelmarck and Gyllensvärd, The Chinese 

Pavilion at Drottningholm, p. 163, in the 

Yellow Room and originally in the collection 

of Queen Hedvig Eleonora of Sweden 

(1636–1715).


46 

A fine and rare soft-paste porcelain vase 

18th century 


delicately potted and of ovoid form with 

a recessed base, a waisted neck and an 

everted rim. The sides are decorated in 

low relief with two large sprays of lingzhi 

fungus, with incised details. The ivorywhite 

glaze is densely crackled. 

Formerly in the collection of H. M. Knight, 

no. 137, and in an American private 

collection. 

Exhibited: Oosterse Schatten, 1954, 

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, no. 291. 

Honey illustrates a very similar vase in 

Guide to the Later Chinese Porcelain 

Periods of K’ang Hsi, Yung Cheng, and 

Ch’ien Lung, fig. c, pl. 1. 

47 

An unusual soft-paste porcelain vase 

18th century 


based on an archaic jade cong, with a 

square-section body, a circular foot and a 

tapering, circular neck. Each corner of the 

sides of the vase is decorated with four 

stylised trigrams. The vase is painted in 

vivid underglaze blue with large scrolling 

blossoms to the central vertical panels on 

the sides and scrolling small blooms to the 

trigram panels. A floral diaper above pendent 

trefoils and pearls surrounds the neck, and 

a narrow diaper borders the foot. 

This form of vase is more often found 

decorated in monochrome glazes and is 

rare in underglaze blue, but for three 

smaller cong-shaped blue and white vases, 

see Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works 

of Art in China, pl. LX, pp. 100– 01.


48 

A stoneware bowl 



the rounded sides rise from a recessed base 

to an inverted mouth with a rolled rim. A 

thick turquoise glaze covers the inside, and 

on the outside a design of a leafy flower 

spray in yellow and turquoise is repeated 

three times on an aubergine ground. The 

stoneware body is revealed on the foot rim, 

and the base is glazed aubergine. 




lot 973. 

For similar fahua-type bowls, see Harrison- 

Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, 

nos. 13:29–30, p. 424; Hayashiya and 

Trubner, Chinese Ceramics from Japanese 

Collections: T’ang through Ming Dynasties, 

no. 48, p. 91; Medley, The Chinese Potter: 

A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics, 

fig. 170, also illustrated in Dubosc, 

Exhibition of Chinese Art, no. 702; 

Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese 

Ceramics, pl. 89, p. 144, in the collection 

of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 

New York; and Wood, Chinese Glazes, 

p. 217, in the collection of the Victoria 

and Albert Museum. 

49 

A good porcelain vase 

18th century 


after an archaic bronze wine vessel (gu), 

the cylindrical vase has a swollen waist, a 

spreading foot and an everted galleried rim. 

The waist is carved with four panels of leafy 

peony, separated by vertical bracket flanges, 

between bands of upright and pendent 

banana leaves. The outside and inside 

of the neck are covered with a turquoise 

glaze, and a smear of translucent glaze 

covers the base. 

An identical vase is illustrated in Scott, 

Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing 

Monochrome Wares in the Percival David 

Foundation of Chinese Art, no. A566, pl. IX.


50 

An unusual relief-decorated porcelain vase 

Yongzheng period 


of square section and standing on a spreading foot, the vase has flaring sides, narrow 

shoulders, a flaring neck and a galleried rim, and is painted in rose-verte enamels. The body 

and neck bear applied decoration of Bo gu (One Hundred Antiques), and the foot and shoulder 

are painted with shaped cartouches of flowers reserved against a dense floral ground. Bands of 

key-fret and small upright petals decorate the base of the neck, and the rim is also painted with 

key-fret. The recessed base bears ink traces of Chinese characters. 

Du Boulay illustrates a vase of almost identical form with relief moulded figures, dated Kangxi, 

in The Taft Museum: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, no. 1931.92, pp. 648–9. 

For similarly decorated porcelain, see Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works of Art in China, 

pl. LXXXIII, a famille-rose mallet vase, dated Yongzheng; Lam, Ethereal Elegance: Porcelain 

Vases of the Imperial Qing, The Huaihaitang Collection, no. 120, pp. 340–1, a massive 

Yongzheng mark and period vase; and Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours: 

The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 143, p. 156, a Kangxi 

mallet vase.


51 

A pair of porcelain wine cups 

Tongzhi mark and period 


of inverted bell shape and standing on very 

slightly tapering foot rings. The sides of 

each are painted in bright iron-red with two 

running, scaly, five-clawed dragons, one 

facing forwards and one back, chasing 

flaming pearls above a band of crested 

waves. The bases are painted in underglaze 

blue with the six-character mark of the 

Tongzhi Emperor, and of the period. 

Similar single examples are illustrated in 

Kerr, Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the 

Qing Dynasty 1644–1911, fig. 110, p. 125, 

in the collection of the Victoria and Albert 

Museum; and in Scott, Elegant Form and 

Harmonious Decoration: Four Dynasties of 

Jingdezhen Porcelain, no. 196, p. 169, in 

the collection of the Percival David 

Foundation of Chinese Art. For a single 

Qianlong version, see Xu, Treasures in 

the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of 

the Qing Dynasty, p. 269; and for a pair 

of Xuantong cups, see Krahl, Chinese 

Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, 

Vol. Two, no. 789, pp. 156–7.

enamel


52 

A fine and rare painted enamel screen 

18th century 

Width of panel: 8I in, 21.5 cm 

of rectangular form and painted in the 

famille-rose palette. To one side are 

European figures in a bucolic setting with 

European buildings, including a church, 

in the distance. Three European gentlemen 

are seated at a table, while a young man 

walks a dog, accompanied by another 

youth. The other side is delicately painted 

with a pair of egrets in a lotus pond, millet 

and aster. A seven-character inscription 

reads: Tui feng xian kan shui zhong ou 

(Gently pushing aside the lotus pad allows 

one leisurely to watch the egrets swim on 

the water). 

The words for egret, lotus and reeds 

represent the rebus Lulu lianke (May you 

pass your exams one after another). 

It is suggested in Jenyns and Watson, 

Chinese Art: The Minor Arts II, p. 244, that 

the soft colouring of panels such as this one 

is reminiscent of European later eighteenth 

century watercolour and gouache painting. 

For enamels painted with similar foreign 

figures and landscapes, see Arapova, 

Chinese Painted Enamels, no. 241, pls. 166 

and 167, a vase; Gillingham, Chinese 

Painted Enamels, no. 10, p. 17, no. 14, 

p. 21, and no. 118, p. 88, all panels; and 

Lloyd Hyde, Chinese Painted Enamels from 

Private and Museum Collections, no. 4, 

p. 12, four plaques from the Mottahedeh 

collection, and no. 28, p. 24. Note also 

Gillingham, op cit, no. 9, p. 17, a panel 

painted with a similarly delicate spray of 

flowers and grasses.


53 

A painted enamel cup and saucer 

18th century 

Diameter of saucer: 4P in, 12.4 cm 

the cup of U-shape with a slightly everted 

lip and, together with the saucer, decorated 

in the famille-rose palette on a bright yellow 

ground. The cup is painted with a running, 

scaly, five-clawed dragon on waves amid 

clouds chasing a flaming pearl, and the 

interior and base each with a phoenix 

medallion. The saucer is painted with a 

similar confronting dragon to the interior, 

with a frieze of four Shou (longevity) 

medallions alternating with paired stylised 

geometric dragons to the walls; the exterior 

with two running dragons chasing flaming 

pearls, and the base with a medallion of 

two scrolling phoenixes. 

For larger bowls with the same decoration, 

see Lu, Li and Wan, Life of the Emperors 

and Empresses in the Forbidden City, p. 57; 

and Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum, 

The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by 

Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum: The 

Enamel Volume, no. 2, p. 38. Gillingham 

illustrates a very similar saucer in Chinese 

Painted Enamels, no. 49, p. 46.

54 


A pair of painted enamel dishes 

18th century 


with rounded sides supported on broad 

foot rings and painted in the famille-rose 

palette. Each is painted with a spray of 

various flowers, butterflies and a bat within 

a shaped border of scrolling flowers on a 

bright yellow ground. The sides bear four 

shaped cartouches of butterflies, fruits and 

flowers, alternating with small dragon 

roundels, against a pink diaper ground. 

Five bats (Wu fu) about a central phoenix 

in shades of blue on a yellow ground, 

enclosed by a formal pink scroll, adorn the 

base. The outside walls are painted with 

another five bats (Wu fu) amid scrolling 

lotus between borders of formal pink and 

blue classic scrolls. 

Wu fu (The Five Blessings) are longevity, 

wealth, health, love of virtue and a 

peaceful death. 

Gillingham illustrates a related, slightly 

smaller dish in Chinese Painted Enamels, 

no. 74, p. 64.


55 

A fine painted enamel dish 

18th century 


with rounded sides standing on a broad 

foot ring. The interior is painted in the 

famille-rose palette with a large spray of 

fruits and flowers, including chrysanthemum, 

peach, finger citron, camellia, rose, pink 

and prunus, all enclosed by a narrow frieze 

of scrolling flowers on a yellow ground. 

The interior walls are decorated with five 

bats (Wu fu) and clouds against a pink 

diaper ground, all beneath a formal blue 

classic scroll. The outside walls are painted 

with a broad floral scroll above bands of 

blue and pink classic scroll, and the base 

with a phoenix medallion in shades of blue 

on a yellow ground. 

Formerly in the collection of Alfred and 

Ivy Clark. 

Wu fu (The Five Blessings) are longevity, 

wealth, health, love of virtue and a 

peaceful death. 

Arapova illustrates a dish with a similar 

main design in Chinese Painted Enamels, 

no. 165a, pl. 109. 

56 

A large painted enamel tray 

18th century 


with eight lobes and rounded sides, and 

painted in the famille-rose palette. The 

interior is decorated with a magnolia tree, 

crab apple, peony, lily and other flowers 

emerging from rocks, enclosed within an 

elaborate border of lingzhi fungus scrolls. 

The sides are painted with a narrow pink 

border beneath four shaped cartouches of 

floral sprays alternating with fruit-shaped 

panels of various flowers in pink, all 

reserved against a formal floral scroll. 

The base is painted with flowers and fruits, 

including peach, pomegranate and finger 

citron, the San duo (Three Abundances), 

on a white ground, and the exterior sides 

with cracked ice.

57 

A cloisonné enamel vase 

17th century 


after an archaic bronze fanghu, with a 

square section, a spreading foot, wellrounded 

sides and a waisted neck; the 

shoulders are applied with two gilt-bronze 

lion-mask handles suspending loose rings. 

The body is decorated with rabbits to one 

face, a peacock and another bird to the 

second, and another peacock to the third, 

all these amid flowers and rocks, and with 

a crane in a lotus pond to the fourth. The 

neck is decorated with a frieze of upright 

leaves against scrolling flowers beneath 

pendent cloud scrolls around the rim, the 

shoulder with scrolling lotus, and the lower 

part of the body with scattered blooms on 

a ground of ruyi-shaped cloisons, all in 

coloured enamels on a turquoise ground 

and separated by narrow friezes of cloud 

and leaf designs on lapis-blue grounds. 

The foot is decorated with flying horses 

(haima) sporting amid waves. The rims and 

edges are gilt. 

For similar examples, see Avitabile, Die 

Ware aus dem Teufelsland: Chinesische 

und japanische Cloisonné- und Champleve- 

Arbeiten von 1400 bis 1900, no. 40, p. 87; 

Brinker and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné, The 

Pierre Uldry Collection, no. 158; Brown, 

Chinese Cloisonné: The Clague Collection, 

pl. 25; Chen, Enamel Ware in the Ming and 

Ch’ing Dynasties, no. 22, pp. 90–1, in the 

collection of the National Palace Museum, 

Taipei; Garner, Chinese and Japanese 

Cloisonné Enamels, pl. 53; and Zhongguo 

Meishu Fenlei Quanji: Zhongguo Jinyin 

Boli Falangqi Quanji, Vol. 5, no. 190, 

p. 161, in the collection of the Palace 

Museum, Beijing. 

58 


A cloisonné enamel censer 



standing on three gilt cabriole legs, the 

circular-section vessel rises steeply from 

a flat base and flares towards the rim; 

two gilt-bronze lion masks are set on 

the shoulder. The vessel is decorated in 


with six bold scrolling lotus to the sides, 

four lotus to the base and a scrolling floral 

band to the inner rim. 

For similar examples, see Avitabile, Die 

Ware aus dem Teufelsland: Chinesische 

und japanische Cloisonné- und Champleve- 

Arbeiten von 1400 bis 1900, no. 16, pp. 60–1; 

Brinker and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné, The 

Pierre Uldry Collection, nos. 116 and 117; 

and Lin, Censers, Incense Burners and 

Hand Warmers: Wellington Wang 

Collection, no. 118, p. 148.

59 


A fine cloisonné enamel panel 

18th century 

16K x 19G in, 42.2 x 49.2 cm 

of rectangular form and decorated in 

coloured enamels. Two scholars and an 

attendant, carrying a qin, walk up a 

mountain path towards a complex of 

buildings partly hidden behind mountains 

and low clouds. Nine red-capped cranes 

are depicted: some on rocks, some beside 

water, one perched high in a pine tree, 

and one in flight. The hills are strewn with 

trees of various kinds, including pine and 

wutong. In a hardwood frame. 




lot 1171. 

A very similar panel is illustrated in 

Chinesische Kunst, no. 783, p. 293. For 

related examples, see Avitabile, Die Ware 

aus dem Teufelsland: Chinesische und 

japanische Cloisonné- und Champlevé- 

Arbeiten von 1400 bis 1900, no. 95, 

pp. 168–9; Brinker and Lutz, Chinese 

Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, 

nos. 299 and 311; Metal-bodied Enamel 

Ware: The Complete Collection of Treasures 

of the Palace Museum, nos. 131 and 132, 

pp. 136–7; and Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei 

Quanji: Zhongguo Jinyin Boli Falangqi 

Quanji, Vol. 6, nos. 104–11, pp. 79–80, 

all in the collection of the Palace Museum, 

Beijing.

60 

A cloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze 

incense burner and cover 

17th century 


the hemispherical censer is supported on 

three gilt-bronze legs, cast and chased in 

the form of phoenixes, and has an everted 

gilt-bronze rim set with two loop handles. 

The vessel is decorated in coloured 

enamels on a greenish-turquoise ground 

with three archaistic monster masks, one 

centred over each leg, and with scrolling 

lotus to the base. The gilt-bronze cover is 

pierced with a design of two phoenixes 

against scrolling and is surmounted by a 

globular knop. 

For related censers, see Getz, Catalogue of 

the Avery Collection of Ancient Chinese 

Cloisonnés, no. 8; Lin, Chinese Incense 

Burners: Collection of Steven Hung & 

Lindy Chern, no. 14, p. 46; and Metalbodied 

Enamel Ware: The Complete 


Museum, no. 44, p. 45.

61 


An unusual cloisonné enamel box 

and cover 

Kangxi period 


with eight bracket lobes, straight sides 

and a very slightly domed cover. The box 

is decorated in dark green, yellow, tomatored, 

lapis-blue and white enamels on a 

turquoise ground with clouds and the Eight 

Trigrams about a central yin–yang symbol 

to the cover, and with clouds to the sides. 

The rims, interior and base are gilt. 


Illustrated: Spink & Son, The Minor Arts 

of China, London, 1983, no. 74. 

An identical box in the collection of the 

Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in 

Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji: Zhongguo 

Jinyin Boli Falangqi Quanji, Vol. 5, 

no. 178, p. 150. 

Note also a mid-sixteenth century box, with 

a yin–yang symbol, in the Reid collection 

and illustrated in Till and Swart, Antique 

Chinese Cloisonné, no. 21. 

62 

An unusual bronze and cloisonné 

enamel mirror 

18th century 


of rectangular form and decorated in 


with two archaistic monster masks and 

scrolling about a plain domed bronze knop. 

The reflective side is now a mellow coffeebrown 

tone. 

Cloisonné enamel mirrors are rare, but for 

a circular example in the collection of the 

National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Chen, 

Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing 

Dynasties, no. 51, p. 129.


63 

A fine cloisonné enamel incense burner 

Qianlong mark and period 


supported on three tapering legs ending in 

gilt tips, the compressed globular body rises 

to a waisted neck and ends in a gilt rim 

from which two loop handles issue. The 

exterior is enamelled in various colours 

on a turquoise ground with scrolling lotus 

and other flowers, and with cloud lappets 

around the rim and feet. The base is inlaid 

with a gilt cartouche incised with the 

six-character mark of the Qianlong Emperor 

in a line, and the commendation mark 

qiang (strong or educated) below, and of 

the period. 


For similar examples, see Brinker and Lutz, 

Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry 

Collection, no. 245; and Shenyang Imperial 

Palace Museum, The Prime Cultural Relics 

Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace 

Museum: The Enamel Volume, no. 3, 

pp. 114–15. Note also a censer with a 

Qianlong commendation mark in Lin, 

Chinese Incense Burners: Collection of 

Steven Hung & Lindy Chern, no. 44. 

64 

An unusual cloisonné enamel vase 

18th century 


of oval section with a well-rounded body, 

standing on a slightly flaring foot, and a 

tapering neck set with two tubular handles. 

The vase is enamelled in various colours 

on a turquoise ground with four registers 

of decoration, three of scrolling lotus and 

one of upright leaves, separated by narrow 

bands of leafy blossoms on a lapis-blue 

ground. The handles are enamelled with 

small scrolling blossoms, and the rims and 

base are gilt. 


A Qianlong mark and period vase of 

similar form is illustrated in Zhang, 

Colorful, Elegant, and Exquisite: A Special 

Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from 

Mr Robert Chang’s Collection, pp. 126–7.


65 

A very fine and rare imperial cloisonné enamel box and cover 

Qianlong mark and period 


of lobed circular section and domed form, and supported on a broad foot ring. The box and 

cover are cast with ten vertical lobes and five horizontal, three to the cover and two to the 

box. The cover is surmounted by a raised gilt-bronze globular finial rising from a band of gilt 

lotus lappets. The turquoise ground is decorated in coloured enamels with bands of small 

scrolling flowers, one flower to each of the rounded compartments formed by the lobing, 

and the foot with circles and C-scrolls. The rims, interior and base are gilt, and the base is 

engraved with the four-character mark of the Qianlong Emperor within a double square, and 

of the period. 

Formerly in an American private collection. 

The quality of this box makes it an obvious product of the imperial workshops, and the shape 

appears to be exceptionally rare. 

A palace workshops painted enamel box and cover of similar form is illustrated in Ho and 

Bronson, Splendors of China’s Forbidden City: The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, 

no. 338, p. 260.

66 

A fine imperial cloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze wall vase 

Qianlong period 


the sides flare to a wide shoulder, curve inwards to a waisted neck, decorated with three 

horizontal gilt-bronze ribs, and end in an everted rim shaped as ruyi lappets. The neck is 

set with two chased gilt-bronze scrolling leaf-form handles, and the vase is mounted on a 

gilt-bronze base with four cloud-form feet beneath a band of raised, tied geometric scrollwork. 

The vase is decorated with a shaped gilt-bronze panel, reserved against a cloud-decorated 

lapis-blue enamel ground. The panel contains an imperial poem in black enamel, reading: 

Amidst six opening jade-like petals, your stamens are golden 

Your pure scent in truth surpasses the heaviness of musk and sandalwood 

It is fitting that you should be known as “The Zen Monk” 

In your profuse variety you make an arbour along the eaves. 

Imperial composition on the gardenia. 

Followed by two seal marks. 

For imperial wall vases with inlaid gilt panels, see Chen, Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing 

Dynasties, no. 46, p. 124, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei; Shenyang 

Imperial Palace Museum, The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace 

Museum: The Enamel Volume, no. 8, pp. 12–13; and Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji: 

Zhongguo Jinyin Boli Falangqi Quanji, Vol. 6, no. 76, p. 55, in the imperial collection at the 

Bishu Shanzhuang palace in Chengde. 


67 

A very fine cloisonné enamel vase 

First half of the 18th century 


the elegant, ovoid body rises from a tall, spreading foot, with a gilt rim, to a high shoulder 

and a waisted neck, and terminates in an upright gilt mouth. The body is finely enamelled in 

various colours on a turquoise ground with scrolling lotus, the leaves tied in places, and four 

large downward-facing bats, all between a band of tied lotus-filled cloud lappets around the 

shoulder and a band of smaller cloud lappets above the foot. The neck is decorated with four 

upright leaves, each filled with an archaistic taotie mask on a speckled greenish-blue ground, 

reserved against lotus scroll, all beneath a band of small cloud lappets. The foot is decorated 

similarly to the neck, with small pendent leaves. 


Such vases that rely on form and decoration, without the need for gilt-bronze embellishment, 

are rare. 

A vase with very similar decoration is illustrated in Brinker and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The 

Pierre Uldry Collection, no. 228, and discussed on p. 132, where it is noted that it “can be 

assumed to date from the Yongzheng period; [its] colour palette still resembles that found on 

Kangxi cloisonné objects, with the exception of the rose pink, more widely used by Yongzheng 

times. This dating should apply especially to the large shouldered jar (no. 228) decorated 

with stylised flowering scrolls, six ruyi-shaped, linked medallions, and dissolved motifs freely 

adapted from ornamental schemes found on archaic bronzes.” 



68 

An unusual cloisonné enamel table screen 

18th century 

Height of screen: 13K in, 34.7 cm 

composed of two panels set into a wood frame. The main panel is enamelled in various 

colours on a turquoise ground with a pair of spotted deer and a pair of red-crested cranes, 

one in flight, beneath a large tree by a lake and steep hills. The smaller panel is decorated 

with circular yellow fruits, possibly longan, borne on leafy stems. In a later pierced wood 

stand. 

Garner illustrates a related panel in Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, pl. 77.


69 

A rare cloisonné enamel cup and saucer 

Late 18th century 

Diameter of saucer: 5G in, 13.7 cm 

the cup is of everted bell shape and stands 

on a very slightly flaring foot; the interior 

and rim are gilt. Two flat, fish-shaped 

handles are set on the sides. The saucer has 

curving sides and a flat rim and is supported 

on a broad foot ring. The sides of the cup 

and interior and underside of the saucer are 

decorated with scrolling lotus in coloured 

enamels on a white ground. Classic scrolls 

on a lapis-blue ground decorate both feet. 

The rims of the saucer are gilt. 


See Metal-bodied Enamel Ware: The 

Complete Collection of Treasures of the 

Palace Museum, nos. 204–5, pp. 214–15, 

for painted enamel cups and saucers of 

similar form. 

A cupstand with very similar decoration is 

illustrated in Zhu, Ming Qing Guwan 

Zhenshang, p. 160.

jade & 

hardstone


70 

An archaic jade figure of a hare 

Western Zhou dynasty 


the slim slab of jade is worked in the form 

of a hare, with round incised eyes, large 

ears, incised paws and a short tail; its nose 

is pierced from one side. The semi-translucent 

stone is a striated deep olive-green tone 

with traces of cinnabar from burial. 


Such hares are found in many of the 

world’s most notable private and museum 

collections: see, for example, Gu, The 

Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed 

in China, Vol. 14, p. 68, excavated from 

tomb no. 1 at Rujiazhuang, Baoji, Shaanxi 

province, and now in the Baoji Museum of 

Bronze Relics; Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art 

in Overseas Collections, Jade I, no. 27 

(bottom), p. 27, in the collection of the 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art; 

Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Tomb of 

Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, fig. 3, colour 

pl. 30; Ip, Chinese Jade Carving, no. 44, 

pp. 72–3; and Rawson, Chinese Jade from 

the Neolithic to the Qing, fig. 1, p. 231, in 

the collection of the British Museum. 

71 

A fine and rare archaic jade pendant 

Late Shang or early Western Zhou dynasty 

Height: 2N in, 7 cm 

the slender slab of jade varies in thickness 

and is in the form of a crouching, humanlike 

figure in profile; both sides are incised 

with simple scroll patterns. The figure wears 

a large headdress, pierced from both sides 

for suspension, and has an upturned nose, 

large eyes and a simply incised mouth. The 

semi-translucent stone is a celadon-green 

tone with slight alteration due to burial, 

mainly to the headdress. 

For related examples, see Institute of 

Archaeology, CASS, Tomb of Lady Hao 

at Yinxu in Anyang, pl. 132; Jadeware (I): 

The Complete Collection of Treasures of 

the Palace Museum, nos. 102 and 103, 

pp. 122–3; and Rawson and Ayers, Chinese 

Jade throughout the ages, no. 86.

72 

An archaic jade disc (bi ) 

Warring States period, 4th century BC 


the slightly uneven slab of jade has narrow 

flanges around the rim and central hole. 

The surfaces are worked in relief with rows 

of small bosses and finely incised lines. 

The semi-translucent jade is a pale celadongreen 

tone with cloudy areas and some 

parts altered to oatmeal through burial. 

Formerly in the collection of Neil Phillips. 

Rawson illustrates a similar example in 

Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the 

Qing, no. 15:1, p. 252, where she notes 

that “Other examples with a similarly 

irregular surface have come from a Chu 


tomb at Henan Huaiyang Pingliangtai, from 

tombs in western China and from the tombs 

of the Zhongshan state at Pingshan xian in 

Hebei province.” 

For further similar discs, see Gu, The 

Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed 

in China, Vol. 5, p. 201, excavated from 

Jincun, Luoyang, Henan province, and now 

in the Henan Provincial Museum; and 

Salmony, Archaic Chinese Jades from the 

Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein 

Collection, fig. 1, pl. LXVII.


73 

An archaic jade dragon pendant 

Spring and Autumn period 

Length: 2D in, 5.7 cm 

the upper surface of the slender slab of jade 

is slightly convex. The stone is pierced and 

worked in the form of a coiled dragon, and 

simply embellished with incised single and 

double lines and circles. The recessed areas 

bear traces of cinnabar and the stone is a 

semi-translucent greenish-white tone. 

(Restored.) 


Illustrated: Davidson, Jades of the 

T. B. Walker Collection at the Walker 

Art Center Minneapolis, Minnesota, pl. II, 

no. 2. 

For very similar examples, see Burkart- 

Bauer, Chinesische Jaden aus drei 

Jahrtausenden, no. 73, pp. 66–7; Guojia 

Wenwuju Guojia Wenwu Jianding 

Weiyuanhui, Illustrated Important Chinese 

Cultural Relics Ranking Standard: Jades, 

no. 150, p. 149, excavated from tomb 

no. 1657 at the Guo State Cemetery, 

Shangcunling, Sanmenxia, Henan province; 

and Liu, 100 Major Archaeological 

Discoveries in the 20th Century in China, 

“Cemetery of Marquises of State Jin at 

Quwo – meditations on the Xia Ruins”, 

p. 209 (bottom right).

74 

A good jade ewer 

Ming dynasty 

Length: 5B in, 13 cm 

after an archaic bronze yi vessel, of broad 

oval form, with a curved lip and a handle 

in the form of a chilong, all standing on a 

straight foot. The dragon rests its broad 

muzzle on the lip, which it grasps with its 

forepaws. It has a single curling horn, flaming 

haunches, a long tail and an incised mane. 

The sides of the vessel are worked in 

contrasting low relief with two chilong 

amid scrolling clouds, all beneath a band 

of T-pattern. The semi-translucent stone is 

an olive-grey tone with some deeper 

charcoal inclusions. 


A very similar example is illustrated in Xue, 

Zhongguo Yuqi Shangjian, no. 568, p. 292; 

and for related ewers, see Great National 

Treasures of China: Masterworks in the 

National Palace Museum, no. 70, p. 148; 

and Jadeware (II): The Complete Collection 

of Treasures of the Palace Museum, 

no. 177, pp. 220–1. 

75 

A fine jade pouring vessel 

17th century 


in the form of a large, open lotus leaf, with 

curling edges. A leaf, pod and flower are 

worked in high relief on the base, their 

stems tied to form a handle, and a smaller 

leaf bends upwards to form the thumbpiece. 

The leaves are incised with veins. 

The thinly worked, semi-translucent stone 

is a greenish-white tone with cloudy grey 

and oatmeal inclusions. 

A related Southern Song dynasty example, 

in the collection of the Victoria and Albert 

Museum, is illustrated in Clunas, “Jade 

Carvers and their Customers in Ming 

China”, fig. 1. 


76 

A fine and rare jade boulder 



of approximately oval section and irregular 

form. A scholar, worked in high relief, 

stands on a rocky promontory looking up at 

the steep rock face; pine trees grow lower 

down the hillside and some smaller plants 

grow from the rocks, all in low relief. The 

back is similarly worked with a waterfall 

crashing down the steep cliff. The stone is 

a celadon-green tone with russet markings 

used intelligently within the design. 


The inspiration for this type of boulder 

depicting a gentleman of noble rank beside 

a waterfall can be found in poetry and 

painting: see, for example, a fan painting by 

Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), or perhaps 

one of his followers, in the collection of the 

Museum of Far Eastern Art, Cologne, that 

reflects a similar feeling of strength through 

isolation, illustrated in Speiser, China: Spirit 

and Society, pp. 200–01. Note also two 

of the set of paintings, Album of the 

Yongzheng Emperor in Costumes, illustrated 

in Rawski and Rawson, China: The Three 

Emperors 1662–1795, no. 167, pp. 248–9, 

that depict the Yongzheng Emperor roleplaying 

as a poet watching a waterfall, and 

as a scholar beside crested waves. 

This small boulder shows good use of the 

natural form of the stone so appreciated by 

the Qianlong Emperor. For very similar 

examples, see Chang, The Refined Taste of 

the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic 

and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, 

no. 48, pp. 158–9, in the collection of the 

National Palace Museum, Taipei; Schätze 

Chinas aus Museen der DDR, no. 138, 

pp. 242–3; and Tianjin Shi Yishu Bowuguan 

Cang Yu, no. 226. Note also Hai-wai Yi-chen: 

Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Jade I, 

no. 114, p. 114, in the collection of the 

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; and 

Keverne, Jade, fig. 3, p. 352.

98 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008

77 

A fine jade group of monkeys 

18th century 

Height: 2G in, 6 cm 

the seated adult holds a leafy peach in its 

right hand, and scratches its head with its 

left; the young monkey reaches up to grasp 

the fruit. Both animals have incised hair 

either side of their spines, short, puffy tails, 

and well-defined faces. The semi-translucent 

stone is an even white tone with a fine 

polish. 


This group forms the rebus Linghou 

xianshou (a wish for longevity). In the Ming 

dynasty novel Xiyou Ji (The Journey to the 

West), the Monkey, Sun Wukong, is placed 

in charge of the Garden of Immortal 

Peaches: however, he not only eats the ripe 

peaches but also goes on to disrupt the 

Queen Mother of the West’s Peach Festival, 

held once every 3000 years. 

For similar examples, see Burkart-Bauer, 

Chinesische Jaden aus drei Jahrtausenden, 

no. 198, pp. 129–30; and Jiang and Lin, 

Jades from the Hei-Chi Collection, p. 195. 

78 

A fine jade figure of a three-legged toad 



the animal has large eyes, bumpy skin and 

a notched spine. Below its wide mouth is a 

group of clouds from which a small moon 

emerges. The pale celadon-green semitranslucent 

stone has areas of russet skin 

remaining and bears a soft polish. 


The three-legged toad is the emblem of 

the god of wealth, Liu Hai, and therefore 

represents riches. The animal is also 

associated with the moon, as some legends 

state that Chang’e, the moon goddess, 

metamorphosed into a toad. 

For similar examples, see Ip, Chinese Jade 

Carving, no. 184, pp. 202–03; Jiang and 

Lin, Jades from the Hei-Chi Collection, 

p. 196; Keverne, Jade, fig. 92, p. 164; and 

Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, 

no. 59, p. 77. 

79 

An unusual jade group of a camel and dog 



the two animals lie head to tail and grasp a 

large spray of open lingzhi fungus in their 

mouths. The camel has two humps, lightly 

incised to simulate fur, a short neck and 

another small, incised hump on its head. 

The dog has scrolling ears and deeply 

incised lines to its body, indicating ribs. 

The camel’s legs and cloven hooves and 

the dog’s legs and paws are worked in relief 

to the underside. The stone is a variegated 

grey and charcoal tone. 

This seems to be a very rare subject, but 

for a related larger example, see Zhang, 

Jadeware (II): The Complete Collection of 


p. 190. 

80 

A jade group of badgers 


Length: 2B in, 5.5 cm 

the two animals lie curled about each 

other, forming an approximate circle with a 

square hole in the centre. The badgers have 

pointed faces, incised eyes, large ears and 

bushy tails, and their legs are lightly incised 

to simulate fur. The stone varies in tone 

from grey through to charcoal. 

Badgers are popular subjects in Chinese art 

and represent conjugal joy. 

For a related example, see Fung and Yeung, 

Exquisite Jade Carving, no. 107, p. 131. 



81 

A very fine jade model of a crab 



realistically worked with eight legs, two large pincers, a bumpy shell and long eyes. Tied stems 

of a lotus flower, seed pod and leaves trail over the underside, forming a stable foot, and are 

entwined with millet. The semi-translucent stone is a pale celadon-green tone with russet 

markings, mainly to the underside and intelligently used within the design, and bears a fine, 

soft polish. 

Formerly in the collection of E. T. Chow. 

Created as a wedding present, the elements incorporated form the rebus Suisui hexie (May you 

have a harmonious marriage year after year). 

For similar examples, see Ip, Chinese Jade Carving, no. 190, pp. 210–11; Mai, Masterworks of 

Chinese Jade in the National Palace Museum, Supplement, no. 24; Rawski and Rawson, China: 

The Three Emperors 1662–1795, no. 226, p. 300, in the collection of the Palace Museum, 

Beijing; Rawson and Ayers, Chinese Jade throughout the ages, no. 404; and Tregear, One 

Man’s Taste: Treasures from the Lakeside Pavilion, no. J.27, p. 17.


82 

A jade figure of a goose 



in a recumbent position with its head and 

neck turned over its back and holding a 

stem of leafy, fruiting peach in its beak. Its 

wings are simply incised in low relief and 

decorated with archaistic scrolls; its legs 

and claws are worked in low relief to the 

underside. The semi-translucent stone is a 

greenish-white tone. 

Geese and peaches are symbolic of long 

life. 

A similar figure is illustrated in Tsiang, 

Radiance and Virtue: The R. Norris Shreve 

Collection of Chinese Jade and Other 

Oriental Works of Art, pl. 28, p. 43; and 

note also a related figure of a crane in 

Jadeware (III): The Complete Collection of 


p. 100.

83 


A fine jade group of cranes 

18th century 


the birds rest with their heads turned over 

their backs to face each other, the larger 

holding a spray of fruiting, leafy peach in 

its beak. The cranes are well detailed with 

short crests, incised, round eyes and neatly 

folded wings, incised with various patterns; 

their legs and claws are worked in low 

relief to the underside. The semi-translucent 

stone is a good cloudy-white tone with very 

small oatmeal inclusions. 

Cranes and peaches are both symbolic of 

longevity, and this subject represents the 

rebus Heshou yannian (May the crane and 

peaches grant you one thousand years).


84 

A rare jade wall vase 

18th century 


the well-rounded sides flare from a spreading foot and end in a waisted neck from which 

two scroll handles issue. The vessel is worked in low relief with a large archaistic taotie mask 

between incised blade bands to the neck and foot. The back has two holes for attachment, 

cleverly hidden by a pair of bats with outstretched wings. The semi-translucent stone is a 

greyish-green tone with slight cloudy and russet inclusions. (The base has two holes for 

attachment to a stand, now missing.) 

Provenance: William Clayton, London. 

Wall vases are found in cloisonné enamel and porcelain, but appear to be exceptionally rare in 

jade. For porcelain wall vases in situ in the Studio of the Three Rarities (Sanxi Tang) in the Hall 

of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin dian) in the Forbidden City, Beijing, see Rawski and Rawson, 

China: The Three Emperors 1662–1795, fig. 15, p. 44. 

This particular jade is certainly a wall vase, and not an appliqué, because of the two holes for 

hanging (covered by the bats) on the back of the vessel.


85 

A jade model of a lotus pod 

17th century 


a flower and leaves borne on openwork 

stems trail over the outside of the large pod, 

which is embellished with seeds in high 

relief. A frog clambers from the flower to 

the pod. The stone is a grey-green colour 

with oatmeal and darker inclusions. 


A box and cover of similar design is 

illustrated in Ip, Chinese Jade Carving, 

no. 193, pp. 214–15. Note also a related 

lotus pod with a small bird in Xue, 

Zhongguo Yuqi Shangjian, no. 618, p. 319; 

and a plain lotus pod in Gu, The Complete 

Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, 

Vol. 8, p. 239, in the collection of the 

Jiangshan Museum, Zhejiang province. 

86 

A fine white jade cup 

Second half of the 18th century 


with S-form sides and supported on a neatly 

finished, conical foot ring. The cup is well 

hollowed and the translucent stone is a 

cloudy white tone. 

This cup is similar in form to the set of six 

white jade cups illustrated in our Summer 

2007 exhibition, no. 112, pp. 128–9. 

This shape is found in Qianlong porcelain 

wine cups, but appears to be very rare in 

jade. Jade cups tend to have straight sides, 

although the larger tea or food bowls, 

which sometimes have covers, are of 

similar shape: see, for example, Rawson, 

Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the 

Qing, no. 29:13, p. 400, where it is noted 

that “Undecorated jade vessels in porcelain 

shapes, as here, probably represented the 

highest quality of eating and drinking 

utensils. Both the sumptuary laws, which 

restricted the use of jade vessels, and 

passages in novels that mention the use 

of jade cups and bowls for eating and 

drinking, make it evident that jade was 

highly valued and used for these purposes.”

87 


A fine and rare jade figure of a boy 

18th century 

Length: 2I in, 6.4 cm 

the boy holds the stems of a large lotus leaf 

that curls around him and of other leaves 

and a flower that rest on his back. In his left 

hand he holds a box and cover, ribbed to 

represent bamboo or possibly lacquer. The 

boy wears baggy clothes, has a round face 

with a happy expression to his features, and 

incised hair tied in two topknots. The leaf is 

incised with veins. The semi-translucent 

stone is a good white tone, with some pale 

greyish-brown speckling to the reverse. 

A similar figure of a boy is illustrated in 

Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth: 

Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario 

Museum, no. 13 (right), p. 36.

88 


A very fine jade figure of a horse 

18th century 


recumbent on incised crested waves. The 

animal turns its head over its shoulder to 

look at the heavenly texts tied securely on 

its back with a ribbon. The animal has short 

ears, well-defined facial features, an incised 

mane and tail, and flames above all four 

legs. The semi-translucent stone is a 

greenish-white tone with some oatmeal 

inclusions. 

Similar examples are illustrated in Fung 

and Yeung, Exquisite Jade Carving, p. 103; 

Hartman-Goldsmith, Chinese Jade, no. 34, 

p. 66, in the collection of the Saint Louis 

Art Museum; Nott, The Flowery Kingdom, 

pl. XLIV, p. 99; Tibet Museum, Jade 

Selections from Yuan, Ming and Qing 

Dynasties in the Tibet Museum, no. 101, 

p. 148; and Zhang, Jadeware (II): The 


Palace Museum, nos. 149 and 150, p. 189.

89 

An unusual jade vase 


Height: 7B in, 18 cm 

supported on an oval, conical foot, the 

slender quatrefoil-section vessel has a 

gently rounded body and a tall, flaring 

mouth. Apart from the lobing, the jade is 

left entirely plain. The semi-translucent 

stone is a striated pale grey tone with a 

soft polish. 

Formerly in an English private collection. 

It is rare to find a vase of such plain form, 

as usually they have handles or other forms 

of ornamentation: see, for example, Nott, 

Chinese Jade throughout the Ages: A Review 

of its Characteristics, Decoration, Folklore 

and Symbolism, pl. XCVII, formerly in the 

Summer Palace, Beijing; and Zhongguo 

Meishu Quanji, Vol. 9, Jade, no. 315, 

p. 185, in the collection of the Palace 

Museum, Beijing.

90 

A jade weight 

18th century 


after an archaic jade sword slide. One 

end curls under in a scroll and the other is 

more angular. The top is worked with rows 

of small bosses in low relief and with an 

archaistic monster mask to one end; narrow 

flanges surround the edges. The semitranslucent 

jade is an even white tone. 

Formerly in the collection of Erik Hancock. 

A Han slide, on which the form of this 

weight is based, is illustrated in Illustrated 

Catalogue of Ancient Jade Artifacts in the 

National Palace Museum, no. 311, p. 168. 

See Great National Treasures of China: 

Masterworks in the National Palace 

Museum, no. 53, p. 139, for a zitan inkstick 

rest inlaid with a similar weight, dated 

Ming; and note also Rawski and Rawson, 

China: The Three Emperors 1662–1795, 

no. 168, pp. 252–3, for scroll six of Guwan 

Tu (Pictures of Ancient Playthings), made 

for the Yongzheng Emperor and dated 

1728, in the collection of the Percival 

David Foundation of Chinese Art, which 

includes a depiction of such a jade slide. 



91 

A jade vase 

18th century 


standing on a stepped, spreading, 

rectangular-section foot, the vase has 

rounded sides that step into an angular 

collar around the shoulder, rise to a long, 

square-section neck and end in a flared 

rim. The semi-translucent stone is a 

spinach-green tone with a lustrous polish. 

With a boxwood (huangyangmu) stand. 

92 

A jade vase and cover 

18th century 


the slender vase has a circular body, a 

spreading, rectangular-section foot, a 

waisted neck, from which two handles in 

the form of scrolling phoenixes suspending 

loose rings issue, and an upright rim. The 

two main faces are each worked in low 

relief with the Ba jixiang (Eight Buddhist 

Emblems) surrounding a leafy lotus 

bloom; the narrow convex sides are plain. 

The domed cover is worked with a band 

of lotus lappets and is surmounted by a 

stepped knop. The stone is a deep 

spinach-green tone. 


For vases of this form decorated with the 

Eight Buddhist Emblems, see Finlay, The 

Chinese Collection: selected works from the 

Norton Museum of Art, no. 106, pp. 242–3; 

Hartman, Chinese Jade of Five Centuries, 

pl. 38, pp. 130–1, in the collection of the 

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; 

Nott, Chinese Jade throughout the Ages: 

A Review of its Characteristics, Decoration, 

Folklore and Symbolism, pl. CX, p. 133, in 

the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, 

Port Sunlight; and Nott, Chinese Jades in 

the Stanley Charles Nott Collection, pl. XLI, 

pp. 206–07.


93 

A very fine and rare jade figure of a luohan 

18th century 


kneeling, he holds a rosary in his right hand, and his left is hidden in the folds of his robe. 

He has long, incised eyebrows, a prominent nose and jaw, long ears and a smiling expression 

to his features. The luohan wears a robe, and a shawl over one shoulder. The semi-translucent 

stone is a pale celadon-green tone with some oatmeal inclusions. 

See Fong and Watt, Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 

fig. 144, p. 405, for an eighteenth-century rubbing of a similar luohan from Sixteen Luohans, 

attributed to Guanxiu (832–912). 

It is more usual to find such luohan on boulders, but for similar freestanding examples, see 

Zhang, Jadeware (II): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, nos. 174 

and 175, pp. 210–11; and Zhang and Zhang, Jade Artifact Collection in the Palace Museum, 

no. 145, p. 154. 

For related luohan boulders, see Chang, The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition 

of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, no. 43, pp. 148–9, in the collection of 

the National Palace Museum, Taipei; Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, 

no. 29:19, pp. 409–11; Roberts, “Chinese Jades”, fig. 8, in the collection of the Walters Art 

Gallery, Baltimore; Trésors du Musée national du Palais, Taipei: Mémoire d’Empire, no. 37, 

p. 73; and Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, no. 104, pp. 122–3, dated late seventeenth 

to early eighteenth centuries.

94 


A fine jade brush pot (bitong ) 

18th century 


of cylindrical form and worked with a continuous landscape in various depths of relief. 

A scholar and his attendant stand beneath a pavilion beside water, watching a crane fly 

overhead, and another scholar and attendant rest beside a waterfall admiring two more cranes. 

Various rocky paths climb up the steep hillsides that are strewn with trees, including pine, 

wutong and prunus. The base is worked to resemble rocks. The stone is a fine spinach-green 

tone with a lustrous polish. 

Formerly in an English private collection. 

For similar examples, see Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935–6, 

no. 2855, in the Buchanan-Jardine collection; Chang, The Refined Taste of the Emperor: 

Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, no. 58, pp. 178–9, in 

the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei; Fong and Watt, Possessing the Past: 

Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, pl. 35, p. 69; Schneeberger, The Baur 

Collection Geneva: Chinese Jades and Other Hardstones, no. B98; Watson and Ho, The Arts 

of China after 1620, pl. 95, p. 84, in the collection of the Field Museum, Chicago; and Zhang, 

Jadeware (II): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 198, p. 237.


95 

A pair of very fine jade brushes 

18th century 


each of plain, cylindrical form with a convex tip and a swollen, globular base, hollowed for 

the insertion of the hair. The semi-translucent stone is a fine, even greenish-white tone. 


Seemingly simple, the creation of a perfect cylinder in jade would probably have been a 

difficult task, and such brushes were almost certainly made for imperial use. 

A very similar, slightly smaller brush is illustrated in Ip, Chinese Jade Carving, no. 269, 

pp. 286–7. For other related examples, see Chan, The Life of Emperor Qianlong, no. 63.11, 

a pair; The Four Treasures of the Study – Inksticks and Writing Brushes: The Complete 

Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 174, p. 195; Knight, He and Bartholomew, 

Chinese Jades: Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century, From the Asian Art Museum of San 

Francisco, no. 94, p. 118; and Zhang, Jadeware (II): The Complete Collection of Treasures of 

the Palace Museum, no. 208, p. 248, a pair.

96 

A rare jade vase (meiping ) 


Height: 10K in, 27 cm 

standing on a neatly worked, straight foot ring, the sides flare steeply to a high, well-rounded 

shoulder, turn inwards to a waisted neck and terminate in an everted, rounded rim. The sides 

are worked in low relief with the Ba jixiang (Eight Buddhist Emblems), trailing tied ribbons, 

amid leafy, scrolling lotus and other flowers, all beneath a bowstring line around the base of 

the neck. The stone is a deep spinach-green tone with some darker areas. The base is incised 

with a gilt six-character Qianlong seal mark within a double square. 

Formerly in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

This is a rare form in jade and is more often found in ceramic, but for other spinach-green 

examples, see Jadeware (III): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, 

no. 64, p. 76; Li, Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, 

Vol. 12, no. 33, pp. 66–7, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing; and Tibet 

Museum, Jade Selections from Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties in the Tibet Museum, no. 65, 

pp. 108–09. Note also a slightly smaller example, incised with a Jiaqing mark, illustrated in 

Yang, A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, no. 30, p. 70. 


97 

A very fine soapstone figure 

circa 1700 


of a luohan, seated with his right knee raised to balance books that he holds steady with his 

left hand; the books are draped with a cloth inscribed with two characters, reading Jing wen 

(Classical text). The figure’s head is superbly carved with a tall crown, a wrinkled forehead, 

incised, straggly eyebrows, downcast eyes, prominent cheekbones, an incised beard and hair, 

long earlobes and raised veins at his temples. He wears layered robes falling in soft folds and 

tied with a clasp over one shoulder; his shoes protrude from the hems. The hems of the robes 

and the cloth are incised and gilt with waves, and lotus flowers on waves. The stone varies in 

tone from pale cream, used mainly for the head, to deep orange for the outer robe and shoes. 

Formerly in a European private collection and acquired in Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion. 

The quality of carving of this Shoushan soapstone figure is of the highest standard and perhaps 

surpasses that of a similar example illustrated in Palace Museum, Images of Buddha: 

Collections of the Palace Museum, no. 156, p. 223. Note also related figures of Bodhidharma, 

in Li and Watt, The Chinese Scholar’s Studio: Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period, no. 53, in 

the collection of the Shanghai Museum; and in Zhu, Ming Qing Guwan Zhenshang, p. 245. 

For jade boulders worked with similar luohan, see Tsiang, Radiance and Virtue: The R. Norris 

Shreve Collection of Chinese Jade and Other Oriental Works of Art, pl. 24, p. 39; and Watt, 

Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, no. 104, pp. 122–3, in the collection of the Fogg Art 

Museum, Harvard University. 



98 

A banded agate brush washer 

18th century 


in the form of two pomegranates borne on 

a leafy stem. One fruit is hollowed, to form 

the washer, and split to reveal its seeds. The 

stone varies in tone from white through to 

deep amber-brown, with some areas of the 

natural, unpolished surface remaining, 

mainly to the base. 

A split pomegranate represents the rebus 

Liukai baizi (a wish for numerous sons). 

99 

A fine and rare carnelian ram 

18th century 


in a recumbent posture with finely incised 

eyes, long, twisting horns, a short, puffy 

tail, and legs and hooves tucked neatly 

beneath it. The animal breathes out a cloud 

of qi from which a yin–yang symbol 

emerges; further clouds are carved in high 

relief to the back. The clouds are worked 

from the red areas of the stone and the ram 

from the white. 

This subject is, of course, well known in 

jade, but rare in carnelian.

organic

100 

A rare bone comb 

Western Zhou dynasty 


one side is slightly convex. The edges are 

carved with birds’ heads in profile beneath 

a geometric crown, and both sides are 

decorated with incised lines and circles and 

pierced, all above tapering teeth. There is 

accumulation of sand in the recessed areas, 

and the surface bears some cinnabar traces. 

Combs were made of various materials 

including bone, ivory, jade and wood in 

ancient China: see, for example, two jade 

combs from the late Shang dynasty in 

Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Tomb of 

Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, fig. 2, 

pl. CXXVIII, one with confronting birds in 

profile, and the other with a plain top and 

a geometric crest. A jade comb of the 

middle Western Zhou dynasty, illustrated 

in Yang, The Beauty of Jade, no. 101, p. 79, 

is decorated with a related design of 

confronting birds. Note also a jade tablet 

with similar workmanship and design, 

dated Western Zhou, in Jarrige, National 

museum Arts asiatiques – Guimet, p. 80; 

and a bone hairpin, in the collection of 

the British Museum, with animals’ heads in 

profile, in Watson, Chinese Ivories from the 

Shang to the Qing, no. 4, p. 29. 

101 

An unusual bone comb 

Tang dynasty or Five Dynasties 

Length: 4B in, 10.4 cm 

of hemispherical form and tapering towards 

the sides. The top is pierced with two 

friezes: a wider floral design above a simple 

leaf scroll. The teeth are narrow and regular. 

The material has partly turned a mellow 

turquoise colour through burial. 

A very similar example is illustrated in 

White, Tombs of Old Lo-yang, no. 147, 

pl. LX. Note also closely related jade combs 

in Jadeware (II): The Complete Collection 

of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 16, 

p. 18; and in Zhang, Jadeware (I): The 


Palace Museum, no. 193, p. 184. Clunas 

illustrates a similar hemispherical bone 

comb in Chinese Carving, fig. 1, p. 10, 

dated AD 1000–1100.

102 


A very small and unusual bone tortoise seal 


N in, 1.9 cm square 

the square-section seal is surmounted by a 

recumbent tortoise with its head raised and 

an incised carapace. The base is carved 

with three characters, most probably 

reading Mo si ma (Assistant Commander). 

For related gilt-bronze tortoise seals of 

the Western Han, see A Catalogue of 

the Special Exhibition of Bronze Seals 

Throughout the Dynasties in the National 

Palace Museum, nos. 111–19, pp. 178–86.


103 

A rare carved black lacquer ewer 


Length: 4K in, 11.7 cm 

after an archaic bronze vessel (yi ), the oval 

ewer has a broad lip, opposite which is a 

loop handle carved with an animal mask, 

and stands on a solid, stepped foot. The 

black lacquer is marbled with five layers of 

red and carved with scroll designs through 

to an ochre ground. 

Formerly in the collection of M. Doullens, 

French Ambassador to China in Beijing 

before 1914. 

It is very rare to find small ewers decorated 

in this technique, which is more often 

found on boxes and dishes, but Garner 

illustrates a related libation cup, in the 

collection of the Victoria and Albert 

Museum, in Chinese Lacquer, no. 56. 

104 

A carved red lacquer ewer 



based on an archaic bronze original (yi ). 

The broad oval vessel has a loop handle, 

issuing from an archaistic animal mask, 

an everted lip and a solid, stepped foot. 

The sides are carved with two birds, one 

perched in flowering prunus and the other 

in camellia, on a ground of rosette diaper 

between bands of key-fret around the 

mouth and wavy petals around the foot. 

The interior and base are lacquered black. 

Formerly in the collection of M. Doullens, 

French Ambassador to China in Beijing 

before 1914. 

Kopplin illustrates a similar pair of ewers, 

supported on short feet, in Im Zeichen des 

Drachen: Von der Schönheit chinesischer 

Lacker, Hommage an Fritz Löw-Beer, 


Linden-Museum, Stuttgart.



105 

A rare carved red lacquer stem cup 



the U-shaped cup has an everted rim and is 

supported on a spreading stem. The sides of 

the cup are carved with a continuous frieze 

between bands of key-fret and wavy petals. 

A scholar, wearing an official’s hat and belt, 

and three attendants, carrying a fan, a 

parasol and a wrapped box, are depicted 

in a landscape with buildings, rocks and 

trees, including pine, against various diaper 

grounds. The stem is carved with lingzhi 

fungus reserved against a rosette diaper 

above a chevron and half-blossom band. 

The rim and base are lined with beaten 

silver. 

Formerly in a French private collection and 

purchased in Berlin in 1958. 

It is rare to find lacquer stem cups carved 

with figural subjects; they are more usually 

found decorated with fruits, or birds and 

flowers: see, for example, Carved Lacquer 

in the Collection of the Palace Museum, 

pl. 258; Garner, Chinese Lacquer, no. 69, 

in the collection of the British Museum; and 

Kopplin, Im Zeichen des Drachen: Von der 

Schönheit chinesischer Lacker, Hommage 

an Fritz Löw-Beer, no. 67, p. 151, in the 

collection of the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart.

106 

A carved red lacquer bowl 



the U-shaped sides rise from a stepped foot 

ring and end in an everted lip. A broad 

frieze of two birds, branches of camellia 

and prunus, and rocks against a rosette 

diaper ground is carved between bands of 

key-fret around the lip and wavy petals 

around the foot. The interior and base are 

lacquered black. 

Provenance: Madame Wannieck, Paris, 

1942. 

For similar examples, see Carved Lacquer 

in the Collection of the Palace Museum, 

pls. 254–5; Garner, Chinese Lacquer, 


no. 70, in the collection of the Victoria and 

Albert Museum; Kopplin, Im Zeichen des 

Drachen: Von der Schönheit chinesischer 

Lacker, Hommage an Fritz Löw-Beer, 


Linden-Museum, Stuttgart; and McElney, 

Inaugural Exhibition (Volume 2: Chinese 

Metalwares and Decorative Arts), no. 321, 

p. 134.


107 

A small carved red lacquer box and cover 



of shallow circular form with straight sides. 

The top is carved with a smiling Immortal, 

carrying a long staff and a sack over his 

shoulder, and wearing baggy robes falling 

open to reveal his chest and large belly, 

against a fine air diaper and a rosette diaper 

ground. The sides are decorated with 

interlocking T-pattern. The base and interior 

are lacquered black. 

For similar examples, see Ancient Chinese 

Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, no. 387; 

and Tregear, One Man’s Taste: Treasures 

from the Lakeside Pavilion, no. L.19, p. 8.

108 

A small carved red lacquer box and cover 

18th century 


of cinquefoil form with deep, straight sides. 

The top is carved with the God of 

Literature, Kuixing, and nine boys. Kuixing 

is holding a writing brush and an ingot, 

and some of the boys, who all wear baggy 

trousers and tunics, play musical instruments 

while one holds aloft a rice measure, all 

against a geometric diaper ground. The 

sides of the cover are carved with a 

complex wan diaper, the rim of the box 

with a band of interlocking T-pattern, and 

the base with flowering peony. The interior 

is lacquered black. 

A similar box is illustrated in Herberts, 

Oriental Lacquer: Art and Technique, 

pp. 24–5. 

109 

A carved two-colour lacquer box 

and cover 

18th century 


of octofoil form with deep, straight sides. 

The top is carved through the red lacquer to 

a green rosette diaper with four floral sprays 

about a sprig of chrysanthemum. The red 

lacquer sides are carved with a wan diaper 

and the base is incised with the same 

design that appears on the cover. The 

interior is lacquered black. 

A box of similar form is illustrated in Zhu, 

Ming Qing Guwan Zhenshang, p. 196. 


110 

A fine and rare carved red lacquer alms bowl 

18th century 


of compressed globular form standing on a broad, short foot ring. The sides are carved with a 

continuous frieze of two large, scaly fish swimming amid crested waves in which precious 

emblems are scattered. The mouth is surrounded by a cloud-lappet border, and the foot by a 

lotus-lappet border; the foot itself is carved with a minute interlocking T-pattern. The interior 

and base are lacquered black. 

Provenance: Louis Joseph, London. 

The fish is an emblem of harmony and abundance. 

Bowls of this type are rare, but see an example in National Museum of Chinese History, 

Exhibition of Chinese History, 10-3-6, p. 179, carved with seven Buddhas. 



111 

A very fine and rare imperial carved three-colour lacquer screen 


Width: 25N in, 65.4 cm 

the rectangular screen is carved through a layer of red to dark green and ochre diaper 

grounds, representing air and water respectively. One side depicts Wang Xizhi writing at his 

desk in the Orchid Pavilion while other scholars compose poems on small promontories to the 

sides of the stream. An attendant brings Wang Xizhi a cup and another carries a goose. In the 

foreground a scholar, carrying a staff, crosses a bridge accompanied by his attendant, and three 

more attendants carry refreshments. Wine cups on lotus leaves float in the water in which a 

pair of geese swim. The landscape is finely carved with steep hills in the distance, and various 

trees, including pine, wutong and willow, and bamboo. The other side is similarly carved with 

a scholar watching a crane fly away. He is accompanied by various attendants: one sweeps the 

large pavilion, and two carry a birdcage. The crane’s mate stands on one of the promontories 

to one side. The scenes are enclosed within a raised border of two bands of key-fret. The stand 

is carved with panels of bats and lotus scroll reserved against a geometric diaper ground, with 

further bats and lotus scroll to the aprons and scroll feet. 

In AD 353 the Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion took place: forty-two literati assembled at the 

Orchid Pavilion near Shaoxing in Zhejiang province to celebrate the Spring Purifying Festival. 

A poetry competition was held in which cups of wine were floated in a stream, and whoever 

was closest to the cup when it stopped had to compose a poem. Wang Xizhi (303–61) was a 

calligrapher who attended the gathering, and his most famous work is the preface to the 

compilation of poems written by the group of scholars. The Lanting xu is to this day the classic 

narrative on parties, and Wang Xizhi reflects on their tranquil pleasures and the impermanence 

of pleasure and, indeed, life. 

Wang Xizhi is also famous for rearing geese, and it is thought that he mastered the technique 

of rotating his wrist while writing by watching the movement of geese’s necks. 

A very similar screen is illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, 

pls. 373 and 374. For further examples, see Fong and Watt, Possessing the Past: Treasures from 

the National Palace Museum, Taipei, pl. 334, p. 534, and note also pl. 335, p. 534, a brush 

pot carved with Wang Xizhi exchanging calligraphy for a goose; Hobson, Chinese Art, pl. XCV; 

Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace 

Museum, no. 60, pp. 86–7; Special Exhibition: Oriental Lacquer Arts, no. 581; and Watson 

and Ho, The Arts of China after 1620, pl. 75, p. 66, in the collection of the Osterreichisches 

Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna. 

Carved red lacquer boxes depicting this motif are illustrated in Chinese Lacquer in the Palace 

Museum Collection, no. 44, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei; and in 

Jacobsen, Appreciating China: Gifts from Ruth and Bruce Dayton, no. 70, p. 127, in the 

collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.


112 

A fine carved red lacquer box and cover 

18th century 


of circular section with a gently domed top and base. The box and cover are carved overall 

with a total of five two-horned, five-clawed scaly dragons in pursuit of a flaming pearl amid 

small scrolling waves that partly hide their bodies. The interior is lacquered black. 


For related examples, see Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, pl. 311, 

carved with nine dragons; Chinese Lacquer in the Palace Museum Collection, no. 54, in the 

collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei; Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas 

Collections, Lacquerware, no. 154, p. 157, in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of 

San Francisco; Jakobsen and Sørensen, Empire of the Dragons: Chinese Art Treasures through 

4000 years from Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark, no. 148, in the collection of the 

Danish Museum of Decorative Art; Kopplin, Im Zeichen des Drachen: Von der Schönheit 

chinesischer Lacker, Hommage an Fritz Löw-Beer, no. 85, pp. 174–5, in the collection of 

the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart; and Strange, Chinese Lacquer, pl. XXII, in the collection 

of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

113 

A fine and rare imperial carved red lacquer vase 


Height: 8D in, 21 cm 

of elegant, slender double-gourd form supported on a spreading rectangular foot. Both sides 

are carved with two medallions containing the gilt characters Da ji (Great good fortune) on 

hexagonal floral diaper grounds and surrounded by cloud lappets, all reserved against a dense 

ground of the Ba jixiang (Eight Buddhist Emblems), tied with ribbons, amid scrolling foliage. 

The neck is carved with pendent lappets and the foot with lappets against a leiwen ground 

above a band of key-fret. A ribbon is tied around the middle of the vase, falling down the 

narrow sides in soft folds. The interior and base are lacquered black and the base is incised 

with three characters, reading Chong hua gong (Palace of Double Brilliance). 

The expression Chonghua referred in ancient times to the splendour of the reign of Shun, 

following on from the great achievements of his predecessor Yao. 

The Chonghua gong is a palace in the northwest of the Forbidden City, consisting of three 

courtyards. As the Qianxi Ersuo, it was the residence of Hongli from the age of seventeen, 

and before he became the Qianlong Emperor, and he spent the first years of his married life 

in these private chambers. On becoming the Qianlong Emperor, the palace was renamed 

Chonghua gong, and was used, together with the Palace of Heavenly Purity, for annual tea 

parties at which guests were asked to write poems. For photographs of the interior of the 

Chonghua gong, see Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II): The Complete Collection 

of Treasures of the Palace Museum, nos. 258–60, pp. 305–07. 

A similar, circular-section vase, lacking the ribbon, is illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the 

Collection of the Palace Museum, pl. 389. Such vases are also found in other materials: see, 

for example, Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji: Zhongguo Jinyin Boli Falangqi Quanji, Vol. 6, 

no. 309, p. 204, a painted enamel version in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing; 

and Zhou, “The Zande Lou Ceramics Gallery”, fig. 8, one of a pair of porcelain wall vases tied 

with a ribbon, in the collection of the Shanghai Museum. 



114 

A fine, large carved red lacquer box and cover 



of circular form with rounded sides and supported on a very shallow foot. The top is deeply 

carved with a circular medallion of three five-clawed, two-horned, scaly dragons in pursuit of 

a flaming pearl amid cloud scrolls that partly conceal their bodies, all enclosed by a raised 

geometric border and a band of lotus lappet. The sides of both the box and cover are carved 

with a total of eight phoenixes amid scrolling peony on a geometric diaper ground. The birds 

are finely carved in different postures, with various types of feathers, delicately incised. The 

foot rim is carved with key-fret and enclosed by a narrow border of chevrons and half blooms. 

The interior and base are lacquered black. 

Formerly in the collection of Prinzessin Sybilla von Hessen. 

It is rare to find this type of box with phoenix decoration to the sides, but for an example with 

a similarly decorated top and lotus scroll to the sides, see Carved Lacquer in the Collection of 

the Palace Museum, pl. 307.

115 


A pair of fine carved three-colour 

lacquer jardinières 

18th century 


with deep, straight sides, and everted, 

foliate flange rims, supported on four 

cloud-shaped feet. The vessels are carved 

through the red lacquer to a layer of green 

and finally to ochre with mirror-image 

scenes in four panels to each jardinière. 

The scenes show deer and cranes in 

landscapes with trees, including pine and 

wutong, beside water with clouds above, 

against various diapers representing earth, 

water and air. The panels are reserved 

against scrolling lotus. The edges of the 

rims are carved with key-fret, and the tops 

with a simple lotus scroll. The interiors and 

bases are lacquered black. 

Formerly in the collection of the late 

H. R. H. The Prince Henry, Duke of 

Gloucester.

116 

A very fine and rare inlaid black lacquer brush pot (bitong ) 

18th or 19th century 


of square section with indented corners and standing on four bracket feet. The sides are 

covered with sand lacquer, and inlaid in mother-of-pearl, horn and bone, some stained, with 

sprays of flowering prunus, lily, bamboo and chrysanthemum, and insects. The interior and 

base are lacquered black. 

The form of this vessel and the freedom of inlay would suggest a date of the eighteenth century 

or earlier: see, for example, a similar brush pot illustrated in Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and 

Ming Dynasties: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 205, p. 259, 

dated late Ming; and an inlaid black lacquer table screen in Furniture of the Ming and Qing 

Dynasties (I): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 200, p. 248, 

dated early Qing. 

However, while sand lacquer (an effect similar to that of Japanese makie) was used in the 

Song dynasty, the technique was later lost, and it was not until the eighteenth century that 

Lu Yingzhi, a famous Qianlong lacquer craftsman from Yangzhou, managed to recreate it. 

The complete history of this is related in Tsang and Moss, Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, 

no. 63, pp. 102–03. Moreover, Lu Yingzhi’s grandson, Lu Dong (zi Kuisheng), active in the 

first half of the nineteenth century, was also a lacquer artist and produced extremely fine inlaid 

lacquer objects. For examples of his work, see Tsang and Moss, op cit, nos. 63, 64, 85, 149, 

216 and 217; Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty: The Complete Collection of Treasures 

of the Palace Museum, nos. 188 and 189, pp. 252–5; and Zhongguo Qiqi Quanji, Vol. 6, 

nos. 199–202, pp. 174–5, all in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. Objects made 

by Lu Kuisheng all appear to bear his seal, so it is not possible to confirm an attribution to 

him, but the standard of workmanship is certainly similar to that of works by him, and the use 

of the sand lacquer ground would certainly point to manufacture by him or possibly a member 

of his family or circle.

117 

A fine lacquer cabinet 

Kangxi period 

23B x 19 x 13K in, 58.7 x 48.2 x 34.6 cm 

of rectangular form with two drawers enclosing a fitted interior. The front is decorated with a 

panel containing pairs of mythical lion-like animals, birds and hares amid various flowering 

plants, including peony, prunus and lingzhi fungus in relief lacquer on a black lacquer ground, 

surrounded by painted lacquer borders of lozenges, lotus flowers inlaid in mother-of-pearl, 

and key-fret. The top and sides are decorated in the same technique with panels of mythical 

animals, birds and plants; the back is plain. The interior is fitted with ten drawers, embellished 

with sprays of fruits and flowers, and the doors are decorated with phoenixes amid peony and 

ornamental rocks. The undersides of the drawers bear inked Chinese inscriptions to indicate 

their placement. The fittings are baitong (paktong), and the lock-plate is chased with birds 

amid flowers, and the hinges with scrolling lotus. 

Similar depictions of birds and mythical animals can be found on Kangxi porcelain: 

see, for example, Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, no. 100, pp. 138–9. 

A cabinet decorated in the same technique with hunting scenes is illustrated in Carvalho, 

The World of Lacquer: 2000 Years of History, no. 16, p. 59. Such cabinets are, however, more 

often found in Coromandel lacquer, and for a similar example, see Jourdain and Jenyns, 

Chinese Export Art in the Eighteenth Century, pl. 20, p. 83. Note also a lacquer box painted 

with similar birds illustrated in Herberts, Oriental Lacquer: Art and Technique, pp. 234–5. 



118 

An amber model of a finger citron 

18th century 

Length: 2I in, 6.3 cm 

one large and one small fruit are borne on 

an openwork stem, and flowering branches 

twist over the surface. A bat rests on the 

larger fruit. The material is a fine orange 

colour; the bat and fingers of the fruits 

are carved from the translucent areas of 

the amber. 

The finger citron, or Buddha’s hand citron, 

represents a wish for blessings and longevity.

textile


119 

A fine embroidered silk panel 

18th century 

23 x 46 in, 58.5 x 117 cm 

flowers, including begonia, marigold and rose, grow around a pierced ornamental rock, all 

embroidered in subtle pastel tones on a golden-yellow silk ground. In a Chinese wood frame. 

Begonia (qiuhaitang) was a favourite subject of Chinese craftsmen from the Song dynasty 

onwards, and as it blooms in the autumn and bears a resemblance to crab apple, it is called 

“autumn crab apple”. Marigold is known in Chinese as “chrysanthemum of ten thousand 

longevities”, and the rose is symbolic of longevity. 

The quality of this embroidery indicates that it would have been commissioned by the Imperial 

Household Department (Neiwufu), and its colouring and subject matter suggest that it would 

have adorned the walls of one of the imperial palaces, and, with its wishes for longevity, may 

have been a birthday present for the emperor or one of his close family. 

A related panel of auspicious flowers and rocks, symbolising birthday congratulations, is 

illustrated in Embroidered Pictures: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace 

Museum, no. 32, p. 65. Note also a screen inset with similar panels in Hu, Gugong Bowuyuan 

Cang Ming Qing Gongting Jiaju Daguan, Vol. I, no. 381, pp. 356–7, in the collection of the 

Palace Museum, Beijing.

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CHRONOLOGY 

EARLY HISTORICAL DYNASTIES 

Neolithic circa 7000–1570 BC 

Shang circa 1570–1045 BC 

Zhou circa 1045–256 BC 

Western Zhou 1045–771 BC 

Eastern Zhou 770–256 BC 

Spring & Autumn period 770–482 BC 

Warring States period 481–221 BC 

IMPERIAL DYNASTIES 

Qin 221–206 BC 

Han 206 BC – AD 220 

Western Han 206 BC – AD 8 

Xin dynasty 

(Wang Mang interregnum) AD 9–23 

Eastern Han 25–220 

Six Dynasties 220–581 

Three Kingdoms 220–265 

Wei 220–265 

Shu 221–263 

Wu 220–280 

Western Jin 265–316 

Eastern Jin 

Southern Dynasties 

317–420 

Liu Song 420–479 

Southern Qi 479–502 

Liang 502–557 

Chen 

Northern Dynasties 

557–589 

Northern Wei 386–534 

Eastern Wei 534–550 

Western Wei 535–557 

Northern Qi 550–557 

Northern Zhou 557–581 

Sui 581–618 

Tang 618–906 

Five Dynasties 907–960 

Liao 907–1125 

Song 960–1279 

Northern Song 960–1127 

Southern Song 1127–1279 

Xixia 1032–1227 

Jin 1115–1234 

Yuan 1279–1368 

Ming 1368–1644 

Hongwu 1368–1398 

Jianwen 1399–1402 

Yongle 1403–1424 

Xuande 1426–1434 

Zhengtong 1436–1449 

Jingtai 1450–1456 

Tianshun 1457–1464 

Chenghua 1465–1487 

Hongzhi 1488–1505 

Zhengde 1506–1521 

Jiajing 1522–1566 

Longqing 1567–1572 

Wanli 1573–1619 

Tianqi 1621–1627 

Chongzhen 1628–1644 

Qing 1644–1911 

Shunzhi 1644–1661 

Kangxi 1662–1722 

Yongzheng 1723–1735 

Qianlong 1736–1795 

Jiaqing 1796–1820 

Daoguang 1821–1850 

Xianfeng 1851–1861 

Tongzhi 1862–1874 

Guangxu 1875–1908 

Xuantong 1909–1911 

Catalogue design by Brookes Forty 

tel: 01225 314478 

info@brookesforty.com

WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

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