QIANLONG INCISED FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The current lot belongs to an existing group of related jade plaques which imitate Han dynasty examples of this shape, either with the characters, yi zi sun, ‘For the benefit of sons and grandsons’, or yi shou, ‘For the benefit of Longevity’. An Eastern Han plaque inscribed with the yi shou characters is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadewares (I), Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 258-259, no. 216. It is rare to find this type of plaque from the Qianlong period made of ‘chicken bone’ jade.