A PALE GREEN JADE CEREMONIAL TABLET, GUI, QIANLONG PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A PALE GREEN JADE CEREMONIAL TABLET, GUI, QIANLONG PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY Carved from a finely polished pale green jade of even, softly luminous tone, this elegant gui tablet rises in a slender, tapering form terminating in a sharply defined, gabled point. The stone possesses a quiet translucency, its smooth planes subtly animated by faint natural inclusions that attest to the material’s authenticity and depth. The silhouette is austere yet harmonious, the elongated rectangular body culminating in an architectural apex that lends the piece both dignity and vertical emphasis. One face is meticulously worked in low relief with an orderly field of raised bosses arranged in rhythmic, evenly spaced registers. Each rounded boss is crisply defined, catching the light across its domed surface and creating a subtle interplay of shadow and sheen against the matte ground. The disciplined geometry of the pattern recalls archaic prototypes, evoking the tactile vocabulary of early ritual jades while maintaining the refined precision characteristic of eighteenth-century craftsmanship. The reverse is left largely unadorned, its surface smoothly finished to emphasise the purity of the stone and the clarity of the form. The tablet’s thin profile and carefully bevelled edges demonstrate consummate control of the material, suggesting its intended use as a ceremonial emblem rather than a utilitarian object. Held upright in the hand during formal rites, the gui functioned as a symbol of rank and moral authority within the ritual hierarchy. In the Qianlong period, such works reflect the emperor’s profound engagement with antiquity. The revival and reinterpretation of ancient ritual forms formed a central aspect of court taste, with jade—long esteemed as the embodiment of virtue, righteousness and refinement—serving as the ideal medium. The ordered field of bosses and restrained geometry underscore the Confucian values of harmony and propriety, aligning the object with the cultivated ethos of the Qing court. At once an evocation of archaic ritual tradition and a testament to the disciplined elegance of Qianlong lapidary art, this jade gui stands as a refined symbol of authority, continuity and reverence for the classical past. Length: 11.5 cm

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