A superb white jade 'quails' pendant


Inscribed Zigang, QianlongThe lustrous white stone modelled as an oval frame superbly carved in low relief enclosing two quails amidst stalks of millet, the reverse precisely carved with four characters sui sui shuang an, all within a raised border and between two reticulated stylised chilong, the side with a recessed relief two-character mark Zi gang. 5.5cm (2 1/8in) long.
|清乾隆 白玉子岡款歲歲雙安佩「子岡」篆書刻款Provenance:Y.C. Chen collection, Hong KongChristie's London, 17 May 2013, lot 1327Marchant, LondonExhibited, Published and Illustrated:Marchant, 90th Anniversary Exhibition: Ninety Jades for 90 Years, London, 2015, no.36來源：香港陳玉階舊藏倫敦佳士得，2013年5月17日，拍品編號1327倫敦Marchant展覽、出版及著錄：Marchant，《玉器九十，90週年特展》，倫敦，2015年，編號36The depiction of two quails on the present lot draws inspiration from earlier periods. Quail and chrysanthemums were a popular theme within the celebrated 'bird-and-flower' painting genre of the Song dynasty; see for example the painting of two quails, attributed to Li Anzhong (active 1119-1162), titled Ye ju qiu chun (Wild Chrysanthemums and Autumn Quail), in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by H.Chuanxin, Dynastic Renaissance: Art and Culture of the Southern Song – Painting and Calligraphy, Taipei, 2010, p.235, no.II-30.Compare with two pendants similarly decorated with quails and stalks of millet, illustrated by X.Guisheng in zhongguo yuqi shang jian'Appreciation and Examination of Chinese Jades', Hong Kong, 2005, pp.154-155, nos.279 and 280.Quail, anchun and ears of grain, sui, form the rebus suisui ping an, or 'May you have peace year after year.'白玉質，脂白厚潤，牌面之一減地浮雕兩隻鵪鶉於谷穗下啄食，另一面減地浮雕「歲歲雙安」四篆字，佩上下首尾浮雕S形螭龍兩條，佩側下角刻篆書「子岡」款。此佩為托古之作，子岡即陸子岡，活躍于十六世紀蘇州，是唯一在玉器上留名的玉雕匠人，明代王世貞《觚不觚錄》記載：「今吾吳中陸子剛之治玉，鮑天成之治犀，朱碧山之治銀，......皆比常價再倍。而其人至有與縉紳坐者，近聞此好流入宮掖，其勢尚未已也。」可見一時盛名，故而後世常有托名之作。 兩隻鵪鶉的圖樣宋代院體繪畫已有見之，如傳為南宋李安忠所繪《野菊秋鵪圖》冊頁之中便有和本件玉珮雙鵪極似的圖樣，見國立故宮博物院，《文藝紹興－南宋藝術與文化·書畫卷》，台北，2010年，圖版11-30，頁235。參看兩件類似的白玉雕歲歲平安珮，著錄於薛貴笙編，《中國玉器賞鑑》，香港，2005年，頁145-155，編號279及280。