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Lot Essay
Florence Van der Kemp (d. 2008) was founder and president of the Versailles Foundation, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, Foreign Correspondent Member of the Institut de France, Academie des Beaux-Arts. Florence and her husband Gerald van der Kemp were for many years the force behind the private fund-raising and restoration at Versailles, where Mr. van der Kemp served as the chief curator, and where they lived (and brought up their family) in the apartments that were originally built for Colbert, the minister of finance for Louis XIV. They were also instrumental in the reconstruction of the home and gardens of the painter Claude Monet at Giverny.
A similarly decorated white jade box and cover in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, of more compressed form but also decorated with the wu fu around a stylised Shou character and with Buddhist emblems around the sides, is illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, Vol. 6., Qing, Hebei Meishu Chubanshe, 1991, p. 67, no. 103.
Other similar examples from the National Museum of History, Taipei, are illustrated in Jade: Ch'ing Dynasty Treasures from the National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, pls.196 & 197. A pair of similar white jade boxes in the Palais de Fontainebleau collection can be seen displayed on the third shelf of a cabinet illustrated in Yuanmingyuan Liusan Wenwu, Beijing, 2007, pp. 126-127. Another box in the Kunsthammer Museum in St. Petersburg is decorated with the eight Buddhist emblems surrounding a central Shou character.
Compare also examples of white jade boxes sold at auction including a large circular box and cover of similar size, carved with five bats surrounding a Shou character to the cover from the Alan and Simone Hartman collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1519; and a pair of flawless white jade boxes decorated with elephants from the General Omer Blot collection, sold at Christie's London, 13 May 2008, lot 63.
The use of the Shou character and bats to decorate the cover of this box is particularly auspicious. The five bats symbolising the Five Happiness' of Wealth, Longevity, Health, Virtue and a Natural Death.
The superb quality of the stone of the present box and cover is of particular note and compares favourably to the other examples cited above.
A similarly decorated white jade box and cover in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, of more compressed form but also decorated with the wu fu around a stylised Shou character and with Buddhist emblems around the sides, is illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, Vol. 6., Qing, Hebei Meishu Chubanshe, 1991, p. 67, no. 103.
Other similar examples from the National Museum of History, Taipei, are illustrated in Jade: Ch'ing Dynasty Treasures from the National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, pls.196 & 197. A pair of similar white jade boxes in the Palais de Fontainebleau collection can be seen displayed on the third shelf of a cabinet illustrated in Yuanmingyuan Liusan Wenwu, Beijing, 2007, pp. 126-127. Another box in the Kunsthammer Museum in St. Petersburg is decorated with the eight Buddhist emblems surrounding a central Shou character.
Compare also examples of white jade boxes sold at auction including a large circular box and cover of similar size, carved with five bats surrounding a Shou character to the cover from the Alan and Simone Hartman collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1519; and a pair of flawless white jade boxes decorated with elephants from the General Omer Blot collection, sold at Christie's London, 13 May 2008, lot 63.
The use of the Shou character and bats to decorate the cover of this box is particularly auspicious. The five bats symbolising the Five Happiness' of Wealth, Longevity, Health, Virtue and a Natural Death.
The superb quality of the stone of the present box and cover is of particular note and compares favourably to the other examples cited above.