A Fine Chinese Imperial

A Fine Chinese Imperial, Lapis Lazuli small Mountain Carving Inscribed with a Poem by the Qianong Emperor Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period, 1736-95, and incised with a poem, 9.8cm high, 13cm wide, (14cm including the stand). Exquisitely carved with a single hut beneath two trees all beneath a mountain, and with six columns of calligraphy above a solitary figure on a flat stone ledge, which crosses a gushing river. The poem reads: 'Yu Zhi Xu Ting Na Cui □ Xu Ting Ruo Yi Ju Chui Yi Ceng Bu Chuang Ling Mian Mian Shi Zuo Zhe Ying Zhi You Bie Jie Tu Ta Feng Cui Na Wu Yi' This poem, by the Qianlong Emperor is listed in his poetry collection Yu Zhi Shi Ji, Volumn III, no.99. The term 'Xu Ting' is a certain type of pavilion often seen in Chinese gardens. In the Imperial gardens there must have been many 'Xu Ting', as this is not the only time that the Qianlong Emperor mentions 'Xu Ting' in his poems. Provenance A private collection in Monaco, purchased at Spink & Son Ltd. 31st July 1967 for £540. Catalogue Note Cf. Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, an Exhibition organised by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Oriental Ceramics Society, 1975, p.20, no.494, for another lapis lazuli mountain carving from the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. See also Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, for another lapis lazuli carved boulder in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1993, pls. 262 and 263 and another in the Le Shou Tan, (Hall of Joyful Longevity). See also the catalogue note to lot 342. With thanks to Ching-Yi Huang of SOAS for her help in cataloguing this lot.