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20 février 2018

A white jade 'Bat and Shou symbol' washer, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

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Lot 3038. A white jade 'Bat and Shou symbol' washer, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 12.5 cm., 4 7/8  in. Estimate 600,000 - 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,600,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the lobed sides of quatrefoil section, supported on four small slightly flared ruyi feet, the rim finely carved with a bat spreading its wings grasping a beribonned shou character in its mouth, the character carved in openwork extending the width of the vessel, further flanked by a pair of writhing chilong clambering on the exterior walls and forming the handles, the smoothly polished stone of even milky-white colour with a few icy inclusions.

ProvenanceChristie’s London, 4th December 1995, lot 272.
Christie’s Hong Kong, 26th April 1999, lot 509.

Note: The quality of this stone, skilfully accentuated through the finely finished plain surfaces, perfectly complements the auspicious wishes represented through the bat, shou character and knot. Animals and plants whose names were homophonous to words with favourable meanings were commonly employed in Qing decorative arts, for example, the character for bats, hu, is homophonous with the word for blessings, and the knot represents continuity. Vessels adorned with this type of decoration were often presented as gifts on the occasion of a marriage. 

See a similarly decorated marriage bowl of peach form, with a musical chime and double shou character bridging the vessel, flanked with bat handles, formerly on loan to the Percival David Foundation, illustrated in Colin Sheaf, ‘Chinese Jade Colloquy. Percival David Foundation’, Arts of Asia, November/December, 1995, p. 74, pl. 49; and another sold at Christie’s London, 6th June 1994, lot 264. Compare a brushwasher of lobed form and ringed bat handles, but flanking the width rather than the length of the vessel, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages, vol. 12, Hong Kong, 1997, pl. 72.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 oct. 2013

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