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6. A Mughal style Pale Celadon Jade ‘Chrysanthemum' Dish
Qianlong (1736–95)
The shallow dish extremely thinly carved, its interior decorated with a central medallion of three layers of radiating chrysanthemum petals, corresponding to layers of overlapping peony petals on the base forming the foot. The exterior with a band of stylised lotus blooms, further petals folding around the rim into the inner mouth rim. The very translucent, softly polished stone of a pale greenish white tone suffused throughout with fine crystalline inclusions.
15 cm. (6 in.) diameter.
In material, style and workmanship, this remarkably delicate dish is almost identical to the pair of bowls in the Baur Collection, Geneva, which bear Qianlong reign marks and the character jia (first quality) on their bases (6). Although current scholarship redates a number of the jades in the Baur Collection, these astonishing bowls are undoubtedly of the Qianlong period. Not only does the profile of the bowls conform to porcelain and other un-carved jade bowls of this time, the calligraphy of the imperial marks are also identical to pieces in the Beijing Palace Museum from the Qing court collection (7). Furthermore, the decorative scheme of shallow relief ‘Indian lotuses’ closely resembles that found on a charger in the Palace museum (8).
It is very probable that this dish was made en suite to the Baur bowls. Not only are the petal bands and the stylised floral designs very similar on the current dish and the bowls, the way the petals fold over the rim especially is characteristic in both. Although extremely difficult to make, this design feature not only increases the sense of continuity of the decoration but also strengthens the most fragile part of the vessel.
The fascination of the Qianlong Emperor for Western and Southern Asian jades is seen in the remarkable exhibition of more than 240 pieces of Islamic jade from his collection, held in the National Palace Museum, Taipei in 2007 (9). These jades included examples manufactured throughout Islamic Asia, some pieces dating from as early as the 15th century.
It is only now, with the rest of the collection correctly identified, that the response of the Chinese lapidary to the 18th century taste for Islamic jades can be properly appreciated. Included in the show were 13 jades carved by Chinese lapidaries in the Islamic style. They show the wide variety of styles prevalent, from direct imitations of famous Mogul pieces in the imperial collection to very thin-walled vessels like the current dish.
(The Baur Collection: Chinese Jades and other Hard Stones)
6 Illustrated Pierre-F Schneeberger: The Baur Collection: Chinese Jades and other Hardstones, Geneva,
1976, B38-39
7 Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji (II): Qin, Han – Ming, Qing, Hebei, 2005, p. 546, no 50
8 Illustrated in Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji (II): Qin, Han – Ming, Qing, Hebei, 2005, p. 533 and
p. 550, no. 68
9 See Teng Shu-p’ing in the exhibition catalogue Exquisite Beauty –Islamic Jade, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2007
Next: (7) A Rare Archaistic Jadeite Tripod Censer and Cover
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