A CHINESE WHITE JADE CRANE AND PEACH GROUP, QING DYNASTY 19TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A CHINESE WHITE JADE CRANE AND PEACH GROUP, QING DYNASTY 19TH CENTURY Carved in white jade, the group is finely worked as a lively composition of cranes, peaches, lotus leaves and scrolling stems arranged in openwork around a gnarled branch-form base. The stone has a soft, pale tone with areas of gentle translucency, well suited to the subject’s delicate naturalism and to the polished, tactile finish characteristic of Qing jade carving. The carving is composed with notable complexity, the entwined stems and leaves creating a layered structure through which the cranes emerge. One bird is shown with its long neck extended towards a peach, while another is nestled among the foliage, its plumage indicated by incised feathering. The lotus leaves are curled and veined, and the peaches are rounded and full, giving the piece a sense of abundance and movement despite its compact scale. The iconography is strongly auspicious. The crane is one of the most enduring symbols of longevity in Chinese art, frequently associated with immortality, wisdom and elevated rank. The peach, likewise, is closely connected with long life and the paradise of the Queen Mother of the West, where peaches of immortality were believed to ripen only after great spans of time. Together, the crane and peach form a particularly potent blessing for longevity and good fortune. The inclusion of lotus forms adds a further layer of meaning. Lotus imagery carries associations of purity, renewal and moral refinement, rising unsullied from muddy water. In jade carving, such motifs often operated on several levels at once: as naturalistic decoration, as auspicious rebus, and as refined objects for contemplation within the scholar’s studio or collector’s cabinet. Qing dynasty jade carvers excelled in compositions of this kind, using openwork cutting to animate dense symbolic subjects while retaining a harmonious overall silhouette. This example reflects that tradition through its carefully pierced stems, softly polished surfaces and balanced arrangement of bird, fruit and foliage, presenting a small but richly symbolic object of refined 19th-century workmanship. Length: 10.5cm

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