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The vessel is modelled after an archaic bronze pigment container. The body
is carved in shallow relief with a band of interlaced kui dragons above shou characters separated by taotie masks on the columnar corners. Two everted stylised ruyi-form handles rise from each side. The cover is surmounted by an openwork coiled dragon supported by four coiled chilong. The stone is of a rich mottled spinach-green tone.
£30,000-50,000
The bronze form displayed by the present lot exemplifes the taste for archaism which became popular in the Qing court.
The original function of a tulu was artistic. The tubular compartments at each corner were used to hold coloured pigments, which were subdivided by wooden splats, while the central compartment held a saucer and water for mixing.
Similar examples are held in the Palace Museum collection in Beijing and are illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, 6, Hebei Meishu Chupanshe, 1991, pls.
89 & 90.
A very similar vessel with loose-ring dragon handles was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, Important Chinese Jades from the Personal Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman Part II, lot 1548, which was illustrated by R. Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996.
A jadeite vessel of similar form bearing a yuzhi mark sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 April, 1996, lot 12; and another from the T.Y. Chao Collection sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 24-25 October 1993, lot 1014.
清乾隆 碧玉蟠螭鈕蓋四足爐