Lot 251. An important pale celadon jade brushpot, bitong, Qing dynasty, 18th century; height 6 3/4 in., 17.1 cm diameter 6 in., 15.2 cm. Est. 300,000—400,000 USD. Lot sold 662,500 USD to an Asian Private. Photo: Sotheby's.

of cylindrical shape and resting on five delicate bracket feet, the body subtly and skillfully carved around the exterior with an immortal in a windswept stance accompanied by three attendants, the group crossing a river and traversing craggy mountain paths, the immortal carrying a large peach while the attendants hold a lingzhisprig, a narcissus, and a stalk of bamboo, their presence a modest part of the large and imposing landscape, accentuated with a pavilion in the distance and two large pine trees, the other side of the exterior imitating the high walls of a mountain enshrouded by mist, the stone of translucent and very even pale celadon tone, polished to a soft glow, carved silver-inlaid wood stand, the base of the brushpot and the stand both bearing the number 3267 in red ink  (2).

Provenance: Collection of Heber R. Bishop (b. 1840 - d. 1902).
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Note: This superbly carved pale celadon jade brushpot epitomizes the best in 18th century Chinese jade carving, skillfully using the stone's translucency and even pale celadon-white color to depict an immortal and his attendants in a luminous landscape setting. Jade brushpots of this color and size are extremely rare due to the limited availability of the material. The quality of the stone as well as the carving may suggest that the piece was carved within the Imperial workshops in Beijing during the Qianlong period. By combining meticulously detailed elements, such as the pine trees, with the smooth and sparsely carved rocky mountains, the flawless beauty and luminosity of the light celadon-colored stone are accentuated.

A number of brushpots of pale celadon or white jade, similarly carved with figures holding auspicious objects wandering in landscape settings, are known from important museums and private collections; compare, for example, a smaller white jade brushpot in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 167; a slightly larger brushpot, from the collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27th November 2007, lot 1518; and a third example, carved from a slightly mottled celadon stone, previously from the collection of T.B. Kitson, sold in our London rooms, 30th May 1961, lot 447, and again at Christie's New York, 17th September 2008, lot 329. Compare also a white jade brushpot, but without feet, in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in the exhibition 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. 60.

The present brushpot was acquired by Heber R. Bishop (1840-1902), a well-known banker, entrepreneur and philanthropist, who formed one of the most important early collections of Chinese jades in the second half of the 19th century. While the majority of his collection was bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1902, this brushpot remained in the family and was handed down from one generation to the next to the present owner. It will be offered at auction for the first time since it was acquired by Heber R. Bishop in the 19th century and is one of the few jade pieces from this important collection ever to be sold. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 16 Sep 09. New York.