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Lot Essay
As on many Qianlong archaistic vessels, the poetic inscription reveals Qianlong’s veneration of ancient forms and his view that standards had fallen and should be rectified.
The poems employ quotations from the Confucian philosopher Mencius and can be translated:
"This gong appears to be made in the Han, but is it really?
Harmonious and abundant in appearance (like the superior man)
If not Shang, then certainly it must be Zhou.
Its quality is like that of mutton fat.
More precious and refined than the 'Dragon tail' rock of Anhui.
(Mencius says) 'Half the work and double the result'
From this can you understand the importance of scholarship?"
A nearly identical grey, russet, and black jade rhyton dated to 1787 of the Qianlong period was sold at Sotheby's Paris, 9 June 2011, lot 23. Other cups of this form include one sold at Christie’s London, 5 June 1995, lot 352, carved with archaistic motifs and with an inscription inside the rim. Both cups can be compared to a dark-green inscribed gong illustrated by Yang Boda in "Jade," Arts of Asia, March-April, 1992, fig. 19, and to an example carved from dark green stone and illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji,, Qing, vol. 6, no. 25, with similar archaistic scrolls.
The poems employ quotations from the Confucian philosopher Mencius and can be translated:
"This gong appears to be made in the Han, but is it really?
Harmonious and abundant in appearance (like the superior man)
If not Shang, then certainly it must be Zhou.
Its quality is like that of mutton fat.
More precious and refined than the 'Dragon tail' rock of Anhui.
(Mencius says) 'Half the work and double the result'
From this can you understand the importance of scholarship?"
A nearly identical grey, russet, and black jade rhyton dated to 1787 of the Qianlong period was sold at Sotheby's Paris, 9 June 2011, lot 23. Other cups of this form include one sold at Christie’s London, 5 June 1995, lot 352, carved with archaistic motifs and with an inscription inside the rim. Both cups can be compared to a dark-green inscribed gong illustrated by Yang Boda in "Jade," Arts of Asia, March-April, 1992, fig. 19, and to an example carved from dark green stone and illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji,, Qing, vol. 6, no. 25, with similar archaistic scrolls.