登录
Expert’s note:
The jade is of a luminous white hue and finished to an exceptionally smooth, lustrous polish, its pale translucency allowing light to penetrate the more thinly carved passages and create spectacular, ever-changing effects across the surface and within the deeply undercut recesses. The crisp high-relief carving and imaginative use of the pebble’s naturally asymmetrical form attest to the carver’s mastery. One can readily imagine the boulder positioned on a scholar’s desk in an imperial study, where shifting sunlight would, through the centuries, have continually revealed new details among its cliffs, ancient pines, and swirling waters—much as it continues to do today.
China, 1736-1820. Dexterously carved, the irregularly shaped boulder shows a scene from the poem Ode to the Red Cliff, in which the Song-dynasty poet Su Shi is depicted in a raft with his two companions Huang Tingjian and Foyin being ferried in a boat by an oarsman towards the vast rocky Red Cliff studded with pine trees at different levels, the details of the wispy clouds and waves represented by finely incised lines.
The back of the boulder is carved in crisp relief with a pavilion partially hidden by rocks with a pine tree-lined staircase leading up to it, some of the trees and figures undercut, the surfaces rendered to resemble weathered rock.
The softly polished, semi-translucent stone is of a beautiful and even white hue with subtle amber streaks around the edges.
Provenance: Bonhams Hong Kong, 26 May 2007, lot 238 (dated Jiaqing period), sold for HKD 600,000 or approx. EUR 108,500 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). The Sze Tak Tang Collection of Quincy Chuang, Hong Kong, acquired from the above. Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2022, lot 2809, sold for HKD 504,000 or approx. EUR 61,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). A private collection in the United Kingdom, acquired from the above. Quincy Chuang, born in Shanghai, was a distinguished Chinese art collector who served as President of the Min Chiu Society, a renowned association of art collectors in Hong Kong, and as a Director of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. He was the brother-in-law of Hu Huichun, whose guidance was instrumental in the formation of the collection. After his death, part of the collection was dispersed through the auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s, while a significant group of objects was donated to the Shanghai Museum.
Condition: Excellent condition with only minor wear.
Weight: 1,119 g (excl. stand), 1,268 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Length 17.8 cm
With an associated fitted wood stand and padded silk storage box. (3)
This jade pebble carving illustrates the ‘Preface to the Ode to the Red Cliff’ by Su Shi (1037-1101), composed in 1082. Su Shi appears aboard a small boat together with two companions, the calligrapher Huang Tingjian and the Chan monk Foyin, as well as an oarsman. Within the confines of a jade pebble, the artist has captured the majesty of the scene, breathing life into the swirling waters and the rugged Red Cliff. The contorted windswept pines bring to mind the 'light breeze' mentioned in the ode, and the undercut waves allow the viewer to imagine the 'sound of the river flow'. The way the rocks are rendered in a three-dimensional axe-cut suggests the sharpness of the terrain. The figures in the boat are carved off to the side as if they had just entered the scene, allowing the main focus to be the grandeur of the landscape.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related pair of jade table screens depicting scenes from the Ode to the Red Cliff and incised with the poem on the reverse, dated to the Qianlong period, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, object numbers 002538N000000000 and 002539N000000000, illustrated in The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, 1997, no. 63.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 14 May 2013, lot 46
Price: GBP 73,875 or approx. EUR 125,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pale celadon jade boulder, Qianlong period
Expert remark: Compare the similar scene and closely related manner of carving and stone. Note the much smaller size (13.2 cm) and that the boulder is incised with a “poem referring to ‘The Ode to the Red Cliff’”.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 16 September 2016, lot 1280
Price: USD 245,000 or approx. EUR 294,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A well-carved white jade boulder, Qianlong period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving, motifs with similar pavilion nestled between rocks, and pale stone, albeit with patches of russet. Note the similar length (18.5 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 6 November 2012, lot 114
Price: GBP 181,250 or approx. EUR 315,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large, finely carved pale celadon jade boulder, 18th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving and stone. Note the similar size (17.8 cm) and different subject.
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