Beschreibung:

A LARGE SPINACH-GREEN JADE OVAL 'DRAGON' WASHER18th/19th century The washer of oval section rises from a flat base to an inverted rim, the exterior carved in high relief with five five-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls amidst dense clouds above rocks and crashing waves rising from the whorl-carved base, the semi-translucent stone of mottled spinach-green tone with some black inclusions. 23.2cm (9 1/8in) wide.Footnotes十八/十九世紀 碧玉雲龍紋洗 The present washer is notable for its craftmanship in utilizing the natural shape of the original boulder, which would have been of considerable size. The rich visual texture, created by the carving of dragons writhing and partially emerging out of dense clouds, is particularly impressive. The earliest example of the swirling wave that forms the flat base of jade vessels is first seen on a massive black jade wine basin from the Yuan dynasty, measuring 493cm across the body known as the Dushan dayuhai, the 'Du Mountain Wine Sea', believed to have been commissioned by Kublai Khan (1215-1294) in 1265. The same combination of deeply carved dragons and cloud motif above the swirled wave base continued into the Ming and Qing dynasties, and was once again in vogue during the Qianlong period, using both white and spinach-green jades: see a spinach-green example with the size comparable to the Dushan dayuhai illustrated by Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji, Shijiazhuang, 2005, p.604, pl.252; see also a closely related larger Qianlong period spinach-green jade washer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc.no.:02.18.689, illustrated by H.R. Bishop, The Heber R. Bishop Collection of Jade and other Hard Stones, New York, 1909, p.74, pl.10. 碧玉料，口內斂，厚壁，深浮雕雲龍戲珠五條，雲紋上下層次豐富，龍身矯健或隱或現於雲紋之中，掏膛打磨精細，光素無紋，底部細雕水波紋。 乾隆一朝此類風格之玉雕雲龍紋容器頗為流行，最大如仿元代瀆山大玉海之碧玉雲龍紋甕，見楊伯達著，《中國玉器全集》，石家莊，2005年，頁604，圖252。紐約大都會博物館藏一件清乾隆碧玉雲龍紋洗，風格與本件更似，館藏編號02.18.689，著錄於H.R.Bishop著，《The Heber R. Bishop Collection of Jade and other Hard Stones》，紐約，1909年，頁74，編號10。