Lot 3721. A rare white jade archaistic ear cup, Fanggu mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 10.1 cm., 4 in. Estimate 300,000 — 500,000 HKD. Lot Sold 687,500 HKD (70,114 EUR). Photo Sotheby’s

the shallow oval-shaped bowl with robust sides rising from a short foot, the main sides flanked by a pair of elongated ‘C’-shaped ‘ear’ handles extending below the mouthrim, the base incised with a six-character fanggu mark, the stone of a pale greenish-white colour with attractive russet inclusions.

Note: For a closely related white jade ear cup in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1997, cat. no. 31. The National Palace Museum cup is of similar form and size, differing from the current example in that it is incised with a Qianlong four-character seal mark, rather than a fanggu mark.

The inspiration of the cup is Han dynasty lacquer ear cups, such as one in the British Museum, gift of Brooke Sewell, with an inscription noting that it was made for the emperor in AD 4 at the Western Factory workshop in Shu (now Sichuan Province), illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p. 43, pl. 13.