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| 78 An unusual jade ewer and cover Late Ming dynasty Height: 9 1/2 in, 24.2 cm the flattened, ovoid body rises from an oval foot to a waisted neck; a curved, six-sided spout issues from a dragon’s head and is joined to the neck by a stylised openwork dragon. A fluted, scrolling handle issues from a stylised dragon’s head at the neck and is surmounted by a small single-horned dragon. The body is worked in low relief with shaped panels containing fruits, possibly lychees, surrounded by leafy magnolia and with stylised shou characters between wan motifs and lingzhi fungus to the neck. The cover is worked with archaistic scrolls and surmounted by a mythical beast. The stone is a greenish-grey tone with some speckling. |
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This form is based on a metalwork prototype. For an example from the tomb of the Wanli Emperor, see Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, fig. 82, p. 88. See also Yang, Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages – Connoisseurship of Chinese Jades, Vol. 10, no. 141, pp. 270-1, and, for a square-section ewer signed Zigang, no. 131, pp. 250-1, both pieces from the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. A further example from the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is illustrated by Hartman-Goldsmith in Chinese Jade, no. 31, p. 63. |
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