Property from a distinguished European private Collection of Jade and Hardstone Boats (Lots 715-735)





Property from a distinguished European private Collection of Jade and Hardstone Boats (Lots 715-735)This unusual and comprehensive collection of Chinese sampans, sailing boats and rafts is exceptionally diverse in the materials from which these are made, demonstrating the breadth of prized materials available for carving and admired by connoisseurs throughout the mid to late Qing dynasty. These include jade, jadeite, rock crystal, lapis lazuli, agate, soapstone, rose quartz, aventurine glass, serpentine and bowenite. In its entirety the collection numbers over sixty maritime-subject carvings, each specially chosen and collected. This unique collection was formed by the grandparents of the present owner, who collected Chinese furniture, jade carvings and porcelain, acquired mostly from the 1930's to the 1950's, from leading London and Paris dealers including in London John Sparks and Sydney L. Moss, and in Paris L.Wannieck, Pierre Saqué, C.T. Loo, Michon and Compagnie de la Chine et des Indes. The family sold part of the collection with Bonhams in our New Bond St., London Rooms on 17 May 2012, lots 1-20, retaining the special collection of Chinese jade and hardstone boats, offered now in our May 2018 sales in New Bond St. and Knightsbridge, London and Hong Kong.The passion for collecting nautical related carvings was no coincidence, as it combined the family passion for Chinese art with their occupation relating to maritime trade.Chinese sampans and sailing boats are a subject matter which features prominently in a wide range of mediums from paintings to works of art and porcelain, often associated with river and lakeside vistas, invoking the idyllic nature retreat the literati would aspire to retire to. Fishermen also represent one of the 'Four Noble Occupations' comprising the Chinese four-layered traditional society (also including the woodcutter, farmer and scholar). An exceptional Imperial white jade carving and an aventurine glass carving, both to be offered in Hong Kong, are rare in representing the Han dynasty statesman, traveller and explorer Zhang Qian, shown floating down the Yangtze river on a raft to explore the Western Regions, Xiyu 西域, and known for later playing an integral role in establishing an east-west route opening China to the world of commercial trade and major trade routes such as the renowned Silk Road. These carvings were likely inspired by the well-known silver example formerly in the collection of Lady David, inscribed with a poem and artist's seal Bishan denoting Zhu Bishan, a silversmith active during the 14th century, illustrated in Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no.37.Related carvings of jade sampans from the Qing Court Collection are still extant in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, no.32, and Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 8 Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2010, no.125.



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