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Lot Essay
The shape of this rare jade bowl appears to be based on that of the simple alms bowl or patra, which served as the food bowl of a monk. During the 18th century this shape was translated in various, and far more sumptuous materials. A porcelain example imitating Jun ware inscribed with a Yongzheng mark is illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, 1999, vol. 2, p. 157, no. 264. A repoussé gilt-bronze example dated to the 18th century, decorated with eight mythical beasts below a band incorporating the bajixiang was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30 May 2006, lot 1299. A far more sumptuous example is the Qianlong-marked iron 'alms bowl' covered in reticulated gold decorated with leaping dragons alternating with the Eight Buddhist Emblems (bajixiang) surrounded by a dense ground of lotus scroll between decorative borders, and lined in silk brocade, included in the exhibition, La Cité Interdite, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 1996, pp. 186-7, no. 58. The combination of the simple 'alms bowl' shape, the rich decoration of Buddhist symbolism and the richness of the materials used in the gold-covered bowl in the Palace collection, the gilt-bronze example and the present jade bowl, reflect not only the interest of the Qing emperors in tantric Buddhism, but also the sensibility of the court and its attraction to lavish decoration.