Lot 49. A pale celadon jade lobed cup, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Width 4⅜ in., 11.2 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 USD. Lot sold: 25,200 USD. © Sotheby's 2021

the eight-lobed floriform sides rising from a conforming pedestal foot, the sides set with a pair of archaistic scroll handles each incised at the top with a beast mask, the rim finely incised with a keyfret band, the highly polished translucent stone a pale celadon tone with natural inclusions.

Property from the Junkunc Collection

Provenance: Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: Compare a closely related cup carved with a Yong Shou mark to the base, in the collection of Humphrey K. F. Hui, exhibited in Virtuous Treasures: Chinese Jades for the Scholar’s Table, University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2008, cat. no. 14. See two similar examples of archaistic design, one of octagonal form in the collection of Queen Elizabeth II, published in John Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol. 3, London, 2016, pl. 1820; the other of rounded form in the collection of the British Museum, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade - From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 389, fig. 8.

A closed related example sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th May 2012, lot 4307. Another related example of round form with a landscape design sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1st June 2017, lot 76.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 September 2021