105
A very fine imperial jade boulder
Qianlong period
Length: 9 1/2 in, 24.2 cm

in the form of a mountain and worked in various depths with two scholars on a path beneath a small pavilion and a prunus tree; a waterfall tumbles through the rocks into a pool to one side, all below an inscription reading Wushan di yi quan (The first spring of Mount Wu). The steep overhang is inscribed with a poem, which may be translated: Imperial Composition: White Cloud Spring with rhyme of Bai Juyi / The clouds envelop the white rocks, the rocks enfold the spring / The sky has been colourless and soundless since ancient times / Tranquilly strolling, musing on its origin / I’m happy to come across a grey-haired man, “The origin”, he says “is in the cloud.” The reverse is worked in a similar style with a bridge over a waterfall, a small pavilion high in the rocky cliffs and further trees. The stone is an attractive pale celadon green tone with areas of russet and milky-white clouding. From the collection of Major John Court and formerly in the Floyd Segel collection. Illustrated: Till and Swart, “Mountain Retreats in Jade”, p. 50.

The poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor relates well to the subject of the boulder. Bai Juyi (772–846) was a famous poet of the Tang dynasty and the last line of the poem uses a play on the word bai which refers both to the poet and to an elderly person. Till and Swart, ibid, p. 46, comment on the popularity of such mountains during the Qianlong period: “Among Emperor Ch’ien Lung’s favourite jade carvings were miniature mountains. He personally inspected numerous fine jade mountain carvings, choosing only the finest for his palaces. Some were also chosen to be imperial gifts for important personages. If he felt a certain jade mountain worthy of his imperial attention, he would compose a poem to be engraved upon it in his own calligraphic style.” The largest mountains are the famous series in Beijing, see Jadeware (III): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, nos. 77 and 78, pp. 94–7; and the Walker boulder in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts illustrated in Till and Swart, ibid, p. 48.

For similar examples, see Jadeware (III): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 73, p. 86; Kerr, Immortal Images: The Jade Collection of Margaret and Trammell Crow, p. 19; Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, no. 127, pp. 160–1; and Shanghai Museum: Ancient Chinese Jade Gallery, p. 39 (top left).