WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

106 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008
85
A jade model of a lotus pod
17th century
Length: 2N in, 6.9 cm
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.
Formerly in a Western private collection.
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
Diameter: 2G in, 5.9 cm
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.”