Adam's Fine Asian Art Preview 23 November 2021

12 A FINE AND RARE WHITE JADE ‘DA JI’ DOUBLE-GOURD PLAQUE CHINA, QING DYNASTY, ATTRIBUTED TO QIANLONG PERIOD The flattened section of very even white stone attractively carved around the edges with thin borders of small double gourds on a continuous leafy branch, the top with a pierced loop for suspension, the obverse carved in crisp shallow relief with the auspicious characters “da ji” ( 大吉 ) , the reverse also carved in crisp shallow relief with the auspicious characters “tian xi” ( 天 喜 ) , ‘Heavenly bliss’, mounted within a wooden table screen also set with a carnelian plaque. Dimensions: - the plaque: H: 8 cm – w: 5 cm – thick.: 5 mm - the table screen: 22,4 cm Weight (the jade): 50 grams €5,000 - 10,000 NOTES: 1. The inscription “dà jí” means “good fortune” while the inscription “tian xi” means “Heavenly Bliss”. 2. The Chinese name for gourd ( 葫芦 hulu) also contains a homophone for words for protection or guard ( 护 hu) and also for blessing ( 祜 hu). The gourd is popular as a charm symbol to ward off evil spirits and disease because its first character (hulu 葫芦 ) has the same pronunciation as the word to “protect” or “guard” (hu 护 ) and also the word for “blessing” (hu 祜 ). In some dialects, the Chinese word for gourd (hulu 葫 芦 ) sounds the same as fulu ( 福 禄 ) which means “happiness and rank (as in attaining a high government office). Trailing gourd vines are described in Chinese as man ( 蔓 ). This character can also be pronounced as "wan" and has the exact same pronunciation and meaning as " 万" which means “10.000”. Because the gourd contains many seeds, the Chinese associate the gourd with “10.000 children”. In ancient China, parents hoped for many sons and grandsons so the gourd became an important symbol for a family with many children. 3. A related jade plaque from the Qing Court Collection is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 2008, no.71. Another related but smaller jade plaque was sold at Christie’s New York on 2012/03/22-23, lot 1927. 4. Also see a related plaque at Bonham’s London, United Kingdom, 2012/05/17, lot 41, sold for €57.656 BP incl. Fig. 1 - View set within the table screen Fig. 2 - View of the reverse