PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION A FINE CHALCEDONY AGATE SMALL JAREngraved Yongzheng four-character seal mark and of the period The attractive softly polished vessel supported on a short cylindrical foot with broad circular foot ring, the body gently rounded above the foot and at the shoulder below an elegant short waisted neck with everted rim and broad flat mouth, the interior well-hollowed and with thick-bodied wall giving an attractive weight to the vessel, the stone of greyish tone to one side and more brownish tone to the other and with a diagonal darker inclusion suggestive of a bat in flight. 2 1/4in (5.7cm) high, box 清雍正 瑪瑙小罐 《雍正年製》雙行篆書陰文刻款 This agate jar appears to belong to a rare group of Imperial vessels carved from agate, made in the Imperial Jade Workshop, yuzuo , within the Imperial Palace Works, the Zaobanchu , during the Yongzheng reign and bearing the Imperial mark. It encapsulates the Yongzheng emperor's interest in antiquity as well as in objects made for the scholar's desk and demonstrates the superb craftsman achieved by the Imperial Workshops. The Yongzheng emperor took personal interest in the artistic production during his period including both Imperial porcelain and works of art. Records in the archives of the Imperial Jade Workshops, yuzuo , dated between 1724 and 1729, note that the emperor ordered agate vessels to be kept undecorated in order to show the original pattern of the agate stone. The Imperial collections in Taipei and Beijing hold a number of extant agate vessels, bearing Yongzheng marks and left plain. These include from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, bowls and dishes of various forms, a water dropper, and c, see Feng Mingzhu, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times , Taipei, 2009, pp.235-245; and from the Palace Museum, Beijing, an agate cup and dish; see Yang Boda, Zhongguo yuqi quanji , Hebei, 2005, pp.553 and 550, nos.10 and 6 The well recorded number of agate vessels bearing Yongzheng marks, as opposed to those with Qianlong marks, attests to the Yongzheng emperor's admiration for the the natural virtues of the agate stone. Whilst there was some continuity in agate production during the Qianlong emperor's reign, output in agate declined, in favor of nephrite jade production. See Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, lot 3774 for another Yongzheng seal-marked small cup; and another smaller cup and dish, from the collection of Sir Adrian and Lady Holman, sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 26 April 2004, lot 1125. See also a Yongzheng mark and period shallow bowl, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages , Vol. 11, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 28; and a mallow-shaped example from the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat collection, sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 125.