Lot 1532. A finely carved imperial white jade archaistic plaque, Qianlong four-character incised mark and of the period (1736-1795); 5 in. (12.7 cm.) long. Estimate USD 25,000 - USD 35,000. Price realised USD 314,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011.

Carved to imitate an archaic axe-blade with a hole near the top, the smooth flaring sides interrupted by a pair of phoenixes and mythical beast heads and toothed flanges, the edges worked with key-fret bands that scroll inwards at various points, the bottom decorated with a pair of taotie eyes beneath a pair of fish, coral sprigs and a tripod basin, all finely carved in shallow relief against a ground of delicately incised clouds, one edge inscribed Qianlong nianzhi, the other Hezi yibai bashiqi hao, the translucent stone with some opaque white inclusions, box. 

Note: This plaque is an example of the Qianlong emperor's love of archaism. Qianlong had a series of jade plaques made based on ancient forms. The inscription, Hezi yibai bashiqi hao, is an inventory number. The character he represents the series that the plaque came from, and yibai bashiqi hao (no. 187) represents the plaque's position within the series. The series was named after the sequence of characters in the Qianzi wen, 'The Thousand Character Essay', which was used as a tamper-resistent way to write numbers, since each character is only used once. He is the 187th character in the essay.

An example of a plaque from the ren (79th character) series was sold in these rooms, 16 September 2010, lot 1094. According to C.S. Lin in 'The Collection of Qing Dynasty Jades in the Fitzwilliam Museum', Arts of Asia Magazine, May-June 2010, p. 115, the highest character in the series known, is the character zan, which is the 198th character in the essay. A plaque from the liang (168th) series is also illustrated, ibid., p.114, no. 14, and there is one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum-Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 127.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part I and Part II Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 24 March 2011