Lot 946. A well-carved white jade marriage bowl, Qianlong period (1736-1795);10 ¼ in. (26 cm.) wide across handles. Estimate USD 150,000 - USD 250,000. Price realised USD 588,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018.

The compressed body is raised on four ruyi-head supports and carved in low relief on two sides with a shou character supported by a highly stylized bat above ruyi-shaped clouds, the tips of the extended wings linked to linear scrolls that continue around the sides. Above each shou character is another bat on the outward-curved neck which is flanked by the handles finely carved as winged, horned dragon suspending a loose ring. The wings of the dragon extend back onto the top of the flat rim above a scroll that continues under the rim. The flat underside is carved with a roundel of a bat grasping a branch bearing two peaches as it flies amidst clouds. The well-polished, white stone has an area of pale russet brown color and opaque markings in the bottom and a few small areas of added russet color, zitan stand. 

Property from the Collection of Annie Jue Tseng and Hsiang Sam Tseng , Los Angeles, Calfornia.

Celebrating marriages across the centuries and oceans: a long journey from Shanghai to Hong Kong to Taipei to Hollywood

This stunning white jade marriage bowl has been an heirloom of a family, native to the Shanghai region, for generations. In 1949, the bowl journeyed to the port city of Hong Kong before sailing across the South China Sea to Taiwan, as one of the family’s most prized personal possessions. 

A few years later, the only son of the family left Asia to enroll as a college student in Los Angeles, California. Between his studies, he patronized a family-owned Chinese restaurant near downtown Los Angeles (Fig. 1), whose distinctive architecture, modeled after the real Shanghai, perhaps reminded him of home. There he was introduced to the family’s youngest daughter. In due course their engagement was announced, and the jade bowl made another long journey, this time carried by hand across the Pacific Ocean to arrive at the wife’s family compound in the Hollywood Hills. Far from its first home in China, the jade bowl again fulfilled the purpose for which it was originally carved centuries ago: to celebrate the joyous occasion of a wedding.  

Fig.1 The Forbidden Palace Restaurant, Chinatown, Los Angeles, 1940-1950. ©William H. Hannon Library

Since then, the jade marriage bowl has been treasured in the same private family collection in southern California for more than half a century.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Jade Carvings from Private Collections, New York, 13 September 2018.