AMER WINTER 2016
The live portion of this session begins on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.
ARCHAISTIC DRAGON-HANDLED LIEN CONTAINER.19th-early 20th century, China. Jadeite: pale to light reddish-purple. This shaped octagonal jade is a variation of a classic form known as a lien, a lidded container of cylindrical form. As with the gui, the essential shape has been updated by the addition of a complex of high-relief and free-form animals clambering about the shaped sides of the basic container. There are four animal head feet, with one open-mouthed animal mask and three chilong on the container itself, and the lid sports a full crouching fabulous animal. The lid can only be set on the container in one direction, with the head of its animal knob facing away from the handle.
The baroque impression conveyed by the gui and this work, together with the quality of the finish, the nature of their material, and certain details of the animals as well as the processing of the low-relief decor areas, suggest that they were created by the same workshop. Though it lacks the large animals crawling about the exterior featured on the gui and this lien, the ding shares many of the same design elements, including the manner in which the feet are shaped. All three are elaborate reworkings of traditional contexts.
The lien is a common later Bronze Age shape, appearing in a variety of media including earthenware and lacquer as well as bronze (Little, p. 38, #10). It was used as a food or cosmetic box. The revival instincts of Song artisans led to a renewed interest in this shape, and many were produced using jade, a fashionable material for imitating bronze-form objets d'art at this time (Gure, pl. 231, #4a-b; SNY 6/3/92, #5).
With the advent of the Ming's antiquarian movement there was again enthusiasm for this form. The increasing popularity of tea and wine drinking during that period led to the affixing of handles to the basic cylinder, so that it could be used to hold liquids (Keverne, p. 138, #25 and p. 143, #35; D'Argence, p. 114, Pl.L, illustrating a kung cup; Foster, p. 70, #114 and also Cardeiro, p. 152, Fig. 5; Ip, pp. 232-33, #209; Palm, p. 124, #128; Kerr, pp. 226-28; ACGB, pp. 99-100, #322). Qing period examples are known, including several with significant lug areas, as here (CSHK 3/19/90, #1036), so that this lien may be regarded as part of a long and continuing jade tradition with echoes of the bronze and lacquer past. Reference: The Yangtze River Collection, Later Chinese Jades published by Helga Wall-Apelt, 1993. SIZE: 6.25" x 4.13" x 2.88". (15.9 x 10.5 x 7.3 cm.) PROVENANCE: The Personal Collection of Dr. Helga Wall-Apelt. CONDITION: Very good. 47671-91 JC (3,000-5,000)