A PAIR OF FINE AND RARE CHINESE IMPERIAL WHITE JADE BOWLS

A PAIR OF FINE AND RARE CHINESE IMPERIAL WHITE JADE BOWLS
FOUR-CHARACTER JIAQING MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD 1796-1820

Each with an elegant U-shaped body gently flaring at the rim, raised on short spread feet, with the reign marks incised to the bases in clerical script, lishu, the stone of an even white tone and with a good polish, 12.4cm dia. (2)

Provenance: formerly the Cottreau Collection, sold at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, on 29th April 1910, lot 119; and then the Lawrence Collection of jades and hardstone carvings, purchased from Roger Keverne Ltd on 25th October 2009. A copy of the invoice is available.

Published: R Keverne, Winter Exhibition 2009, pp.122-123, no.105.

Both their perfect form and the quality of the stone from which they are carved make these bowls exceedingly rare. The few known comparable examples occasionally bear Qianlong reign marks, but they are more often unmarked. In Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, Jessica Rawson illustrates a pair of similar unmarked bowls, p.400, no.29:13. Here, it is noted that "Undecorated jade vessels in porcelain shapes, as here, probably represented the highest quality of eating and drinking vessels. Both the sumptuary laws, which restricted the use of jade vessels, and passages in novels that mention the use of jade cups and bowls for eating and drinking, make it evident that jade was highly valued and used for these purposes."

Cf. F Dunand, The Baur Collection Geneva, p.43, B38 for one of a pair of similar Qianlong mark and period bowls; see also J Rawson & J Ayers, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, no.436 and B Yang, A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, p.178, no.115 for further Qianlong mark and period examples; for other comparable bowls without reign marks, see also J C Y Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing, p.178, no.152 and B Yang, A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, p.176, no.113 and p.179, no.116.

清嘉慶 御製白玉雕素身碗 一對

《嘉慶年製》款

來源：Cottreau舊藏，購於巴黎Galerie Georges Petit1910年4月29日·編號119，勞倫斯珍藏玉石，2009年10月25日購於Roger Keverne古董商（附發票複印件）。

出版：R Keverne, Winter Exhibition 2009, 頁122-123, 編號105。