A WHITE JADE RETICULATED PARFUMIERE AND COVER, QING DYNASTY China, 1644-1912. Of flattened hu-form, intricately reticulated and carved in relief with a continuous design of lotus blossoms surrounded by neatly incised overlapping leaves, repeated on the foot, neck, and cover, with lappet bands at the shoulder and above the foot. The translucent stone superbly hand-polished and of an even and pure white tone with only few gray inclusions. Provenance: Estate of Sear Hang Hwie Pao (1937-2009). Pao was one of Canada's leading dealers of Chinese porcelain and works of art. His antique store, Pao & Moltke Ltd., owned together with his wife Mrs. von Moltke, who descended from a German and Danish noble family, was a fixture in Toronto's trendy Yorkville area from the 1980s to early 2000s. Condition: One single shallow loss of ca. 3 x 15 mm to mouth rim with an old fill. Otherwise in very good condition and with only minor wear. The stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into microscopic hairlines cracks over time. Weight: 655.5 g Dimensions: Height 28 cm The neck and shoulder carved with opposing floral handles suspending loose rings, the domed cover surmounted by a lotus bud finial. The floral elements on this vase recall the elaborate and complex designs found on Mughal jades which entered China in considerable numbers during the Qianlong reign as tributes and items of trade. Mughal jades were greatly admired by the emperor for their delicacy and extreme thinness, and subsequently, the Chinese jade lapidaries at the imperial workshops were influenced by this style. From as early as 1764, jade carvers were ordered specifically by Qianlong to make exact copies of these foreign jades, or to produce Chinese objects in Mughal style, as in the case of the present vase which encompasses both Mughal and Chinese design elements. Expert's note: The intricately pierced and reticulated design, though of exceptional quality and requiring masterful skill, make this piece impossible to use as a vase, despite its characteristic shape. Instead, the vessel was used as a parfumiere, filled with herbs and aromatics to produce a pleasant scent, for example in an estuarium or a bed chamber. Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related white jade parfumiere and cover, erroneously described as a vase, also with intricately reticulated design, at Christie's Hong Kong in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 30 May 2005, lot 1428, sold for HKD 336,000. Compare also a related but smaller Mughal-style white jade reticulated dish and cover at Sotheby's New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art on 19-20 March 2013, lot 421, sold for USD 18,750. 清代白玉鏤雕纏枝蓮紋香薰 中國，1644-1912年。扁壺型，繁複的多層鏤空浮雕纏枝蓮紋，頸部、蓋鈕以及足部為蓮瓣紋。玉質溫潤細膩，局部微瑕，古樸雅緻。 來源：Sear Hang Hwie Pao (1937-2009) 收藏。Pao是加拿大中國瓷器和藝術品的主要經銷商之一。 他和妻子創立了Pao＆Moltke Ltd古玩店，他們的古玩店從1980年代到2000年代初期曾是多倫多時尚的Yorkville地區的熱門店鋪。 品相：唇沿有一道淺痕約 3 x 15 毫米以及就是修補。除此之外狀況極好，只有輕微磨損。具有天然脈理的玉石，隨著時間的推移，其中一些裂縫可能會發展成微小的細紋裂縫。 重量：655.5 克 尺寸：高28 厘米 專家注釋：錯綜複雜的穿孔和交錯雕刻，質量卓越，精湛的技術，但這件作品無法用作花瓶，獨特的形狀，它應該曾是放置香草的香薰瓶，可放在浴室或化妝間。 拍賣結果比較：一件相似的白玉香薰蓋瓶，同樣錯綜複雜的鏤雕，見香港佳士得Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 2005年5月30日 lot 1428, 售價HKD 336,000. 一件相近但稍小的痕都斯坦式白玉鏤雕蓋盤，見紐約蘇富比 Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art 2013年3月19-20日 lot 421, 售價USD 18,750。