A Large Celadon Jade 'Lotus Flower' Washer. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period - Sotheby's

carved horizontally in the form of a large lotus bloom with rounded pointed petals and an attendant lotus pad forming the washer, resting on a seed pod and wreathed by undulating stems issuing further arrowheads and furled leaves, all stemming from a large lotus rhizome on the reverse, the translucent stone of an even pale celadon tone picked out with a few russet inclusions and finished to a smooth polish; 28.5 cm., 11 1/4 in. Estimation: 1,500,000 - 2,000,000 HKD. Unsold

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: A related washer carved with one principle lotus flower and several smaller buds and flowers, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated in Ming Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, pl. 56, where the author notes that such vessels were symbolic attempts to bring the garden into the living quarters of the house (see p. 55). Similar lotus flower-form vessels include one from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 50; and a celadon and brown jade example sold in our London rooms, 4th November 1977, lot 377. Compare also a greyish-celadon jade brushwasher carved to form a lotus flower and leaf with a small duck, frog and snail, in the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, included in the Museum's exhibition Jades from China, Bath, 1994, cat. no. 308; and a white and black-speckled brushwasher in the form of two lotus pods, from the collection of Stephen Junkunc III, sold at Christie's New York, 15th September 2009, lot 133.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. Hong Kong | 09 oct. 2012 www.sothebys.com