Lot 961, A large well-carved white and brownish-white jade rhyton, Ming-Qing dynasty, 16th-19th century. Estimate $80,000 – $120,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The deep sides are well carved with bands of archaistic decoration and the vessel is shown as if issuing from the jaws of a dragon-carp, its twisted, bifurcated tail forming a handle to one side through which slithers one of the five chilongseen crawling around the sides, with the three largest having reached the rim. A nine-character inscription, Daoguang xinmao yuci tingchen yan, which may be translated as, 'A gift presented by (Emperor) Daoguang at a banquet held for court officials in the xinmao year (1831)', is carved below the rim on the interior. The semi-translucent stone shades from white to various shades of grey or brownish-white. Together with Connoisseur, August, 1987, vol. 217, no. 907, and Arts of Asia, Hong Kong, September-October 1987. 8 ½ in. (21.6 cm.) high, box

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 23-25 April 1987, lot 203.
Ashkenazie & Co., San Francisco, 21 July 1987. 

Literature: Magic, Art and Order: Jade in Chinese Culture, Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1990, p. 74, no. 67.
Nicole De Bisscop, Chinese Jade and Scroll Paintings from the Dongxi Collection, Brussels, 1995, p. 108, no. 61.
Filippo Salviati, "The Dongxi Collection of Chinese Jades", Orientations, November 1995, p. 49, fig. 9. 

Exhibited: Magic, Art and Order: Jade in Chinese Culture, Palm Springs Desert Museum, California, 1990, no. 67.
Chinese Jade and Scroll Paintings from the Dongxi Collection, Kredietbank Gallery, Brussels, 25 October - 17 December 1995; Kredietbank Luxembourg, 1 February - 13 April 1996, no. 61. 

Notes: Archaistic jade rhytons of this type have their antecedents in jade rhytons of Han date, such as the example from the Han dynasty tomb of the King of Nanyue illustrated by J. Rawson in Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, p. 70, fig. 61. This Han vessel (18.4 cm.) is in the shape of a horn that rises from a twisted, bifurcated tail-form handle at the bottom, and is incised around the sides with scroll decoration. The author notes that this vessel is a Western shape, most likely first made in silver or a precious stone, and then copied in jade. By the Song and Ming dynasties this shape was somewhat modified and the sides were carved with bands of decoration inspired by that found on bronzes and jades of Eastern Zhou, as well as Han, date, with the addition of chilong carved in high relief. These features can been seen on a jade rhyton of smaller size (12 cm.) in the Musée Guimet that is similar in shape, archaistic decoration and clambering chilong to the Dongxi rhyton, illustrated by J. Rawson and J. Ayers inChinese Jade throughout the ages, Oriental Ceramic Society, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1975, p. 97, no. 308., where it is dated 13th-15th century.

Christie's. DONGXI STUDIO- IMPORTANT CHINESE JADE AND HARDSTONE CARVINGS FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION, 17 March 2016, New York, Rockefeller Plaza