A PALE CELADON JADE 'PHOENIX' EWER, GONG, QING DYNASTYChina, 18th century. Crisply carved in shallow relief on both sides of the flattened body with the wings of an archaistic phoenix, its head carved in high relief below the spout suspending a loose ring, a sinuously coiled chilong with furcated tail clambering through the scroll-shaped handle, the mouth and foot rim with key-fret bands and the foot with a geometric pattern. Provenance: European private collection.Condition: A minimal loss to the base, otherwise in very good condition with minor wear, the stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into small hairline cracks over time. Weight: 367.7 gDimensions: Height 12.4 cm The translucent stone of a pale celadon tone with milky white and russet inclusions as well as few dark speckles. The Qianlong emperor's great love of jade combined with his passion for antiques resulted in his commissioning significant numbers of archaistic jade items for his court. The vessel from which the present lot takes inspiration is the archaic bronze gong. Archaic bronze examples would normally have been accompanied by a cover in zoomorphic form, such as an example illustrated in the woodblock printed catalog Xiqing Gujian, 'Inspection of Antiques' (fig. 1). However, this exquisite white jade version was evidently produced without a cover. It is the ultimate testament of a consummate master craftsman to have been able to conceive and combine elegant form with confident subtly defined motifs, working the pure white raw material to its best and fullest advantage. Only few other examples of this rare form and outstanding quality are known, most of which are preserved in the Qing court collection. A white jade gong of wider proportion (16,6 cm high, 18 cm wide) is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanjj – 6 – Qing, Shijiazhuang, 1991, no. 37, which is also made without a cover. For a white jade gong with cover, compare to two examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one of which is closely modeled after the bronze original in form and decoration (14,4 cm high, 16.6 cm wide), the other similar in style to the present ewer but of a more flattened form, see The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch'ing Court, Taipei, 1997, nos. 13 and 20, respectively. Auction result comparison: Compare with a related but smaller ewer, with a cover, at Sotheby's London in Important Chinese Art on 8 November 2017, lot 33, sold for GBP 18,750. Also compare with a much larger version of the present ewer, in white jade, at Christies Hong Kong, in Leisurely Delights, 29 May 2019, lot 3027, sold for HKD 7,325,000.清代青白玉鳳飾龍抱觥中國,十八世紀。仿古彝器,以青銅器觥為其造型基礎,扁筒式,口稍敞,橢圓形足,方折拐子形鋬,一螭龍自其中鑽過,其首倚於鋬上,造型無比生動。流口下雕一鳳首,套一活環。身腹兩側淺浮雕夔鳳紋,下為蟬紋。來源:歐洲私人收藏 品相:底座稍有損失,除此之外狀態很好,且磨損很小,石料内天然裂紋,隨著時間的流逝,其中一些可能會發展成細小的裂縫。 重量:367.7 克尺寸:高12.4 厘米 淡淡的青色半透明石頭,帶有乳白色和赤褐色的內含物,幾乎沒有深色斑點。拍賣結果比較:一件稍小的玉蓋壺見倫敦蘇富比Important Chinese Art 拍場,2017年11月8日 lot 33, 售價GBP 18,750.