A palatial sized jade vase, 16.5" height or 42 x 19.5 x 8.5 cm.4 kilos or 8.8 lbs. The overall vase form is Hu style. The color is completely uniform and the nephrite stone flawless, but for the natural fissure shown on the elephant head below and one or two smaller ones slightly stained with rust and dirt residues of age.

On the sides of the neck are "handles" with rings. These are exemplary three dimensional sculptures of two elephant heads. If we look at our vase as a whole relative to dimensionality and relief, we note the inwardly curling elephant trunks holding large rings on each side of the vessel's neck. Below each ring, there is a fringe of reticulated, weaving, serpentine form with sides concavely beveled and hook shapes branching left and right. These openwork fringes add width without weight and enhance perimeter proportionality relative to projections of the elephant heads and rings. They correspond to the similar serpentine fringes of the lid and together with the open space created for rings behind the elephant trunks, a tout-ensemble openwork perimeter or frame was created. The high relief, beveled, curling ribbon elements join to and extend from the elephants' ears, integrating the elephant heads with the neck of the vase by branching toward the center. These, rather than being linear and serpentine as is the openwork of the perimeter, have an overall shape that is more ear or leaf-like. These extensions form a network of curling ends, addorsed and over-lapping and in stylistic harmony with the ears, seeming to enlarge and extend them in an impressionistic manner not unlike the ceremonial decoration of Indian and Sri Lankan elephants.

Thus, the beveled, high relief ear extensions together with the stylistically similar reticulated side carving relate to and promote unity with the three dimensional elephants heads and the open space of their curled trunks and rings. And these would stand alone beautifully had the blank "canvas" of the body been left without the pictures of boys at play. For even without the bas relief pictorial scenes, the chinese word-sounds for vase and elephant combine for a symbolic association and an auspicious rebus on their own, and the pure beauty of softly polished, unadorned, light celadon jade has appeal to the sense that "less is more." Obviously, however, two unadorned surfaces were too tempting for a "noble," ego-driven custodian to resist carving a hand-scroll type picture narrative upon - just as it was with seal marks. The auspicious relationship between elephant and boy, which was portrayed often in Ming and Qing period art, made the choice a suitable one as well.

The front and back surfaces are carved in bas relief with a hand-scroll type pictorial narrative of 9 boys at play.

The entire surface area of the vessel is interspersed with various carved in relief seal marks, including on the sides between the narratively connecting scenes on front and back, similarly to "qifeng yin: 'riding on the joint seal'" found on paintings. RJS** Almost all of the seal marks are identified as Imperial Qing and Qianlong, particularly. The one notable exception being two different collector's seal marks, "T'ui-mi" and "Shen-p'in" used by the same Ming Dynasty collector, Xiang Yuanbian or Hsiang Yuan-pien (1525-1590/1602), a famous Ming dynasty collector. Some of the seal marks are like those found on the great mountain carvings of Qianlong in the NPM Beijing (Gugong) and those on various jades, including Neolithic, formerly in the Imperial Qing collection and located in the NPM Taipei. These seals are positioned on the vase as seal marks were on many paintings and some jades that ultimately found residence in the collection of Qianglong after often being marked along the way by a previous dynasty collector.

The size and quality of stone will be considered first.

The 3-dimensional elephant heads will be considered secondly.

Third is the bas relief pictorial composition that encompasses both front and back sides, creating a visual narrative when turned around without lifting or, due to size, circumambulated as with a jade mountain.

Fourth and final are the especially unusual twelve seal marks, nine of which are identifiable as to ownership, from 18th C. Qing back to 16th C. Ming. Two of the twelve have not been identified and a third only partially.

Taken all together the thesis being presented is that the vase was initially conceived and executed in the Yuan dynasty as a vase of monumental size (42cm) in Hu form. Then, either later in the Yuan or Song dynasty or, during even early Ming, at behest of an emperor or notable collector, the undecorated front and back sides were carved in bas relief as two parts of a complete landscape garden with the "Boys at Play" theme.

Suggesting that the "boys playing" pictorial carving was done in Song or early Ming rather than Qing is based on the dating clues published by Teresa Bartholomew, which indicate that this theme changed in complexity over time, as indicated by the activities and types of play-things used by the boys.(*TTB) The boys' apparel and haircut is also evidence in this context, as is the style of cloud formation. By the early Ming dynasty, then, by our reckoning the pictorial composition of Yingzi "boys playing" in a garden landscape theme had been added to the Hu vase with elephant head handles. Two collector's seal marks "T'ui-mi" and "Shen-p'in," both seal names of the famous Ming dynasty collector, Xiang Yuanbian (or Hsiang Yuan-pien), 1525-1590, also may have been added at this time. Finally, as with many works of art from the Xiang Yuanbian collection, the vase was acquired by Qianlong and his seal marks were added as on jade mountains and other jade, even archaic (seen by some as an arch defacement), that met his approval. This monumental Hu vase, however, has more Imperial seal marks than on any other jade, regardless of size. These seal marks rival in name, number, and type those placed on the most treasured paintings. The most important and rare, perhaps, from Qianlong are the circular marks, Taishang huangdi "Emeperor Emeritus" and the Gu xi tian zi, "Son of Heaven as No Other" - as well as the oval Qianlong yu lan zhi bao, "Qianlong imperially inspected treasure."

Size and stone: Nephrite stones, particularly "river jades" or those gathered from river beds, are the most desirable because they are worn down to the most integral and flawless core. These are described as either pebbles or boulders, but where a large pebble ends and a small boulder begins has, to this writer's knowledge, never been ascertained. It is suggested, therefore, that a reasonable differentiation can be made by whether or not the stone can be held with one hand. That would be a pebble. Anything larger would be a boulder.

Using the size standard just described, a boulder over 17" minimum in diameter would be required for a vase form of 16-1/2", the height of the vase being studied. This size criteria would also dictate the tools and technique of carving. Prior to the large hardstone boulder (Dushan "jade") wine vessel of Kubla Khan, followed by many nephrite boulder size carvings of Qianlong, almost all jade carvings known were pebble size, small enough to be hand held and worked with the chair and foot-treadle apparatus (see addendum). Boulder size carvings, however, could not be hand held and moved against a stationary cutting tool with ease and full body coordination, even though, relatively clumsy, slings were sometimes used to support the weight of the moderately heavy pieces, albeit surely more clumsily. With the boulders too heavy for sling support, a stationary strong base support would be required, and the cutting tool would be hand manipulated and directed. This apparatus, most likely, would be a variation of the portable bow and spindle type mechanism known from illustrations to have been used in Moghul India as late as the 18th C. *BD illus. It was also used in China, especially for vertical drilling, but not as commonly as the chair and foot treadle.

In addition to sufficient size, in order to be selected for a vase or bowl a boulder would need a desirable light color, translucency, and absence of fissure, discoloration, or inclusions. If, in fact, we use the "four Cs" criteria for judging gemstones: color, cut, clarity, and carat, and substitute consistent translucency and flawlessness for "clarity," carving skill for "cut," and volume size for "caret," the resulting total score would certainly be high for a fine vase. Most mountains and large animal carvings, however, would not score well at all relative to these criteria.

Another quality of jade is sound, (or chime). It almost always accompanies translucency if an object is not too thick. In the days of dynastic China, the approach of a high ranking person was said to be forewarned by the musical sound of his jade pendants. Sound quality is dependent on nephrite cellular fineness and integrity, with that from Hetien known to be the finest.(*H) Stone purity is also judged by absence of natural inclusions and fissures. This is required of fine vessels, but would rule out the less demanding large carvings that don't require translucency or hollowing out.

The vase under consideration here has a clear, chime tone due to the purity of the stone. It also has excellent translucency when illuminated from within or even behind. At a finished weight of approximately 9 lbs or 4 kilos and height of 16.5" (42 x 19.5 x 8.5 cm.), this piece in its raw boulder form, would have probably weighed at least 30 lbs. (13 kilos). the weight and dimensions of the original boulder would have been sufficient to create a large jade mountain three times the weight of the vase.

To transform this boulder into the vase being studied, laborious and skillful grinding would be required to achieve walls of uniform thinness, enough to allow excellent translucency - and neck and foot narrowed to proper Hu vessel proportions. Not to mention, a vase top carved with the incredible exactitude to match and fit the mouth of the vase perfectly. A mountain, on the other hand is not only easier and less wasteful of material, it is the only choice when the original boulder has flaws that can, at best, be selectively reduced or worked around and assimilated into a very forgiving mountain landscape. A vase, contrastingly, will show natural fissures and other flaws readily and unforgivingly.

One jade mountain, following photos, makes the point about size and quality of stone very well. This piece, described and appearing in image as "light celadon," may have had the "four Cs criteria" previously mentioned to qualify to be carved as a vase. It is deeply carved enough from both sides to indicate that it has translucency and uniformity of color and no cracks or fissures are apparent. We do not know, however, if there were imperfections that required the deep carving to remove, and if the "skin" marks on both sides indicate the original surface oxidation, the boulder was likely too flat, or thin, to be a vase. Assuming, however, it was thick enough to be hollowed out and have a Hu vase form, by the time the irregular contours and depressions had been evened out, the final vase would be, perhaps, little more than half the size of the 11-3/8" tall, and narrow, mountain.Sotheby's sold for 517,500 EU ($692,244) 12 December 2013, Paris. 11-3/8"

Boulder mountain landscape carvings are highly valued for their size and display appeal. Size seems to be a higher price determinant than quality of "labor and material." The same is true of boulder size large animal carvings. The mountains and large animal carvings are also similar in regard to the type of boulder chosen for their carving; both almost always being mineralogically inferior to ones selected for vessels. Translucency, freedom of fissures and inclusions, and uniformity of a preferred color (white, celadon) are the most profound quality specifications for vessels. In terms of the value determinant, material, therefore, vessels should begin with higher value upon initial selection. Using this relativity as a main criterion for value comparison between boulder size vessels, mountains, and animals, therefore, should be quite sound. Another reason for this comparison is that very large vases, 18th C. and earlier, are too rare, even with extensive searching, to reasonably compare, while boulders of similar large size and much larger for mountain carvings became relatively frequent, at least by attribution, after being introduced by Qianlong and after his gaining control of Xinjiang and jade production there.

Another mountain sold at Sotheby's on 26 Oct. 2003. It was attributed to the Emperor Qianlong's collection, according to Henry Howard-Sneyd in an interview with Tuyet Nguyet subsequent to the auction. In the interview she questioned whether the quality of the carving was up to Imperial Qianlong standards. His answer: "A feature about jade, almost more than the carving, is the size and quality of the stone that defines whether the piece has been in the Imperial Collection or not." (author's underline)

The uniform light celadon color and the absence of apparent flaws place this mountain in the same category, with the same caveats, as the one preceding; and although this "IMPERIAL JADE 'LUOHAN' MOUNTAIN" is larger, overall, than the one above, a similar reduction in size, as described above, would need to be have been made in order to find in the original boulder the symmetry and shape of a Hu vase. This Lot 32 sold for 9,022,400 HK ($1.16M)

Further along, when we get to our seal mark study in this paper, we will look at the "mountain" category again as some of the colossal size mountains we know to have belonged to this Emperor and still located in the Gugong have the same Imperial seal marks as our vase. We suggest even a separate size category for these boulders too heavy to be lifted by several men, much less two hands: perhaps "colossal" as adjective and "megalith" (root meaning) as noun.

ELEPHANT HEADS segment:

The 3-dimensional "sculpture" of the elephant heads on both sides of our vase: the 3-D modeling of these elephant heads shows an anatomical understanding and empathy seen from the hands of carvers of Central Asian and Indian influence more than Chinese. Elephants and elephant heads carved during late Ming and Qing dynasties, offered representations so commonplace that (like boys faces of pendant charms) they are as a template for caricatures: in most cases with overly incision-wrinkled bodies and two line incision for slanted eyes in evenly contoured heads turned sideways.

The elephant head of our Hu vase, in contrast, has a skull divided by two mound-like protuberances, one over each eye. And the relatively large, oval eyes stand out in relief beneath a brow defined by stylized, yoke shaped, eyelids that terminate in spirals. There is a third mound that marks the forehead between the eyes, the front part of an elephant's skull that contains the air pockets which cushion the contusion of head butting.

The sides of the mouth from which the base of the tusks protrude are also defined in careful relief, with a gum-line layer of skin sheathing and defining the root of the tusk beneath. The lower lip of the mouth is also carved in relief. In most Chinese work, contrastingly, the side of the mouth from which the tusks protrude is defined by an incision, sometimes two, and the lower, mouth-defining, lip is not carved at all.

The tusks of most Qing dynasty Chinese elephants, moreover, are slender, with very little taper from base to tip. They curve to the front of the upper trunk or nose bridge and often touch or seem to join. The tusks of our elephant are markedly tapered from a well rounded, elongated teardrop shaped base to the comparatively quite slender ends that curve inward only slightly rather than around the nose bridge. While working within the short confines of length from tusk root to front of upper trunk, the stylization used by the artisan to represent the tusks, so basic to the elephant, uses diameter and detail and high relief of the base, rather than length, to create relative size and emphasize importance. The eyes, on the other hand, while not a basic identifying feature, especially with Chinese elephants, are also stylized in relief with size and detail, perhaps to emphasize the human like intelligence, maternal love and kind nature of these auspicious creatures protectively overlooking the frolicking boys below.

The ears of an elephant are the largest of all animals. In some children's stories, the elephant can even fly with its ears performing as wings. Most ears of Chinese elephants are done, as with tusks, summarily, and consist of two deep incisions and one relief fold done on the interior as well as the relief line that defines the perimeter. They can also be shaped as two "folded leaf" primary folds that begin with a spiral (as with most elephant ears in jade), not unlike the ears often used for carvings of hound type dogs or some Ming and Qing "lions" or Fu Dogs.

The elephant heads of our subject vase, also have ears that begin with a spiral, then expand into four relief folds within the ears' raised outline. Also, in another example of highly unusual, if not unique to Chinese art, stylization - there are high relief, beveled, overlapping, tendrils as stylized extensions behind the ears. These are decorative continuations of the foliate nature of an elephant ear. They are mindful of and probably influenced by the decorative ribbons, scarfs and vegetal designs painted on and behind the ears of festival elephants in India and Sri Lanka.

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The roundness of the eye seems to be accentuated by traditional Indian painting as well as the ears. Note the yoke shaped painted upper eye brow, similar in style to that of our subject vase.

If one surveys images of elephants in Chinese art from Tang to Qing, a thesis can be made that jade representation of elephants in the Tang dynasty are the most naive, improve slightly in Song, reach zenith in Yuan, carry on for a while in early Ming, and finally reaching apogee of Ming period in the early Ming, Yongle, Sacred Way monumental sculptures. The descention continues through Qing, but never to the caricature levels of Song and Tang, as per published attributions (to follow).

The reason, perhaps, for this peak occurring in Yuan can be found in the Chinese Mongol court records of trade missions which, beginning as early as 1279 and 1280, record gifts of live elephants arriving in Beijing. During the Pax Mongolia, trade relations between China, Indian, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam - elephants cultures all - flourished. This trade would surely include not only a supply of live elephants for the Emperor's court, but for provincial zoos as well, and trade arts and crafts representing elephants from these "elephant culture" countries must have been widely available, and even foreign artisans and jade carvers themselves, as the court of Kubla Khan was known to be receptive to foreigners, i.e. Marco Polo and many others.

Marco Polo wrote of "the magnitude of the Yuan trade with India." He disclosed that "all the ships of India" frequented "the very great and noble city of Zayton" (Guangzhou). And although one thinks of the Mongolians as being more people of the horse and Steppes than ships and sea, the "magnitude" of the Great Khan's naval vessel presence is indicated by records of a Yuan mission/expedition, consisting of "a force of 20,000 soldiers and a thousand Chinese vessels," being dispatched to Java in 1292-93. One thousand soldiers per ship, plus military accoutrement, including horses and provisions - quite a displacement capacity for trade goods if such replaced soldiers. One can assume, perhaps, that "all the ships of India" would be size-able as well and many ships were "passing in the night" (and day) across the South China Sea

This thesis of foreign design influence based on trade direction, pattern, and openness is as old as Ghandaran and Buddhist contacts via the "Silk (jade before?) Route" finds further support visually from period examples as follow:

According to Yang Boda, and with confidence enough to use as cover piece for Vol. 5 of the Palace Museum's, Chinese Jade Comprehensive Series, this elephant is Tang. Very crudely carved, it has the appearance of a pig or rat more than an elephant, excepting the tusk and trunk, of course. Even the size of this largest of all mammals, relative to the human rider, is closer to a large pig (hog) than an elephant. Note the most un-elephant like legs, the rod-like uniform width of the tusks, and Chinese pig like ears. Only the tusks and trunk identify this creature as an elephant. The Tang Dynasty was one of the most open and cosmopolitan in the history of China in regard to cultures westward. Precious metal work took precedence over jade for the first time, which may have something to do with the crudeness of the carving below. Apparently, however, foreign influence from "elephant cultures," a considerable detour from the Silk Road, was not yet apparent.

Moving forward to the Song dynasty, if the Freer Collection (S1987.183) attribution is accurate, there is some improvement in the proportions of ears and legs and feeling of massiveness, but the feet and tail still indicate little familiarity with those of an elephant. The ears are of the "folded leaf" type mentioned earlier as formulaically used by Chinese with other animals, especially canines. The eyes, moreover, are hardly detectable.

Next, we reach the Mongolian Chinese Yuan dynasty, which, according to our research, was the time the visual and physical influence of elephants from "elephant cultures," most notably India, was most prevalent. Accordingly, we propose the dating of the elephant heads on our vase to have been done during the Yuan or, at latest, early Ming periods. Reason for this have been presented earlier in this paper, and we will now consider elephants of Ming dynasty and one of the magnificent, monumental stone sculptures of the absolutely datable and stylistically irrefutable Yongle Sacred Way :

The Ming elephants of the Yongle Sacred Way are closest example, perhaps, of verisimilitude, having been "sinicized", even as the Mongolian people had been. The cranial mound contours, "cabbage" ears, tusks and some relief modeling of brow and upper eyelid is shown more realistically than it ever is in the subsequent Qing. The lower lip, moreover, which best defines the mouth, is not well defined as with the elephant heads proposed as possibly Yuan.

During the Qing, especially with jade, these features became more and more summarized, once again to the point of caricatures. Since Qianlong was said to have been particularly fond of elephants and had some at his disposal, the question begged is why jade artisans seemed to have slowly lost the anatomical familiarity they had with the creature in Yuan and Ming. One possible answer is that the familiarity with the elephant that was introduced to China via the expansive sea trade networks and relative security of the Pax Mongolia waned during the reactionary, more xenophobic, Ming dynasty. Rampant piracy and uncontrollable smuggling was given as the reason, and, no doubt fueled the distrust of all things foreign.

Beginning in 1371, the first ban on all maritime shipping went into effect and continued on and off throughout the Ming dynasty as well as Qing. The Qing, after all, were sinicised foreigners like the Yuan and once again looked outward. Their direction of vision and primary choice for trade and conquest, however, was not toward the sea. Like the Tang, it was north-west toward Xinjiang and Central Asia and beyond as far as Italy rather than in a seaward direction to India, Java, Sri Lanka and the elephant cultures of the south-west. In this direction, from oasis to oasis and over challenging mountain ranges, there were a lot of intermediaries and counter influences before a detour from a Silk Road heading west - to the more scientifically advanced post renaissance Europe - than south into India, Moghul jade carving and Qianlong's reputed love of it, notwithstanding.

And by the time we reach the Qing, there are precious few decently carved elephant heads on Hu vessels. A full figured elephant with boys on top or alongside becomes commonplace, and a stereotyped position of head turned to the side is adopted. It is heavily wrinkled and sometime with two sets of tusks. The mannerism of head fully turned with one side against the body saved the carver considerable work and near full use of a rounded pebble/boulder, as well as providing a technique for carving the trunk in relief rather than extended from the body as in reality it would be. And, as previously alluded to, often a profusion of deep wrinkles on the head are more mindful of a Shar Pei dog than an elephant, and these join the narrowly incised eye, large folded leaf ear, curved trunk and tusks as defining features. An upper and lower tusk, as in the image below, is not common and when it is done, it only furthers the evidence of lack of familiarity with the real animal and most likely reflects copying elephants of myth, Buddhist scripture, or other poetic and prose sources that were often illustrated by woodblock prints.

In comparison with the elephant heads on HU or other vessels attributed to Qing, however, the full-form Qing elephants with heads turned to the side are generally done much better

(Vase without ring) "Jiaqing" (1796-1820) and "of the period." Sold at Christie's Sale 2861 HK 920,000.

This large Hu vase, 13-5/8", sold at Christie's is an example of carving degeneracy by late Qing. Given the low quality of nephrite and carving, surely, only size gives it added value. Note the poor, pitted surface polish and over-lap of incised lines.

Our vase at 16-1/2" is almost 3" taller and proportionally wider.---------------------

SALE 1523 — 18th C. Archaistic Vase - Christie's, London, King St. - 13 May 2014. 12" ht. Decent stone, poor carving of elephant head and archaistic decorative motifs.

Another Qing Hu Vase, 10", with elephant heads and archaistic relief patterns sold by Christie's: good stone, decent carving ("folded leaf" ears), but not to compare with our vase and without rings. -------------------------

Bonham's Fine Asian Art London, 7 Nov '05, Auction 11910;

Details Lot 177: A rare massive archaistic jade vase, huIncised six-character Da Ming Jiaqing fang gu mark and of the period. Heavily carved from a flattened oviform section of greenish grey jade with paler white flecks... 35cm. (13-3/4" high). Estimate: 30-35K GBP

Lid missing. Very low quality jade and crude carving of elephant head with scratch like incisions for eyes and inner ear folds. Almost an obscenity to suggest that this is quality worthy of an Emperor. Artlessness of elephant head carving almost as poor of previous Yang Boda elephant and rider attributed to Tang.

THE PICTORIAL SCENES

The bas relief carving on the slightly rounded surface of the body of this vase depicts a picture in a handscroll-painting format that, when rotated as a scroll would unroll, from right to left and front to back, reveals a continuously unfolding scene of boy's playing in a landscaped garden.

The pine tree is the main singular motif in this pictorial garden landscape. Contiguous tiny umbrella shaped pine needle clusters form a continuous crest, like the bristles on a dragon's back, that obliquely spreads from the front side to the back, joining both as one complete composition. There are three tree trunks connecting to the continuous crest. The first and uppermost disappears behind a Taihu boulder, reappears from behind the boulders, then submerges into the earth and back as a dragon in the clouds or sea.

Stacked vertically and diagonally along the right side of the tree trunks and crest are Taihu boulders. They are the second landscaping motif that compliments the tree in amalgamating the middle of the composition. This is clearly seen after a rubbing is done of the two sides and a sketch is drawn and laid out as an unfurled scroll painting. At the very end of the picture, another formation of "standing" Taihu boulders in the far left foreground marks the ending horizontal border of the picture. The vertical borders are the clouds above the pine tree, and the water line below the bottom of Taihu boulders and baluster post of the fence. Space for sky and clouds is rare, indeed, in pictorial art on jade objects, such as vases, desk screens, and brush pots. Generally, as time progressed through the Qing dynasty, space was sacrificed for superfluous carving, ultimately to the point of horror vacui.

The natural architectonics, then, are from top to bottom: the clouds, of curving and lingzhi formation, above the pine tree (three trunks to be considered one "dragon tree"), the Taihu vertical boulder formations below and alongside the pines, and the curving lines at the bottom border of the composition, which may indicate the edge water of a pond, with angular parts representing small rock outcroppings. Again, both the Taihu boulders and pine tree serve to unite the two sides (pages) in the center of one unfolding composition. The full composition, comprising both sides, unfolds in time and space with visual circumambulation.

The garden architecture on the front or right side begins at the bottom of a diagonal, balustered open-rail fence and ends with a high Moon Gate wall in the background. On the left side a pavilion is the background structure. The Moon Gate wall and the pavilion serve as the backdrop and define the type of landscape garden, which, in this case serves as a playground for the Boys at Play pictorial theme.

After making a rubbing and sketch of both sides of a jade vase or screen carved with a pictorial theme, it is obvious which side of the vase is front and which is the back if they are meant to be viewed as a continuum, as with a scroll painting or sheets of a diptych picture ensemble, whether woodcut or painting. Since scroll paintings are unrolled from right to left, the right side is seen first, and would, therefore, be the half of the composition on the front of the vase.

In the case of our subject vase, it became clear that there was, indeed, a continuum based on the right to left orientation of handscroll paintings, as noted by d'Argence', Laing, et al, and the direction of pictorial narrative and movement of play was in agreement. The overall direction of movement in the composition, therefore, is right to left at oblique angles that ascend on the right side, or page, and descend on the left. The beginning to end sequence line would also be right to left, in accordance with the movement displayed from unfurling a scroll. This sequence harmonizes with a pictorial narrative of 8 boys vigorously at play, and a 9th boy at play while sitting; all, however, under the canopy of a protective "dragon pine," and alongside the secure walls of Taihu boulders. The entire setting, moreover, takes place within a Moon Gate and pavilion garden playground for boys of high expectations. The number 9 is auspicious in Chinese culture, from the I-Ching to Feng-shui. It is the preferred number of dragons for imperial representations and often used in famous paintings, such as the 9 Dragons by Chen Rong, circa 1233.

The picture's composition begins on the far right at the bottom of the fence's downward curving balustrade. The fence has a lower rail as well as the balustrade and three boys climb and play hide and seek between, over, and all along to where the fence ends its zig-zag diagonal course in front of a Taihu boulder and tree trunk at the upper left. The direction of movement toward the center of the scene is apparent. It is further emphasized by the direction of the two boys running above the fence line, holding flag-shaped objects that seem to blow in the wind and looking back as if flying kites that are nowhere to be seen.

The viewers eye can also follow from right to left the uppermost and ending segment of the pine tree as it rises slightly from end point to a gradually arching apex leftward, appearing as if this horizontal part of the "dragon tree" forms a protective canopy above the boys at play below on the fence below. It then starts its descent leftward, crossing into the next, continuing scene.

On the opposite side, or next scene, continuing to the left, the tree crest continues its descent until the tree trunk dives into the earth as if the sea, then re emerges in the foreground and rises leftward to form an arched neck and abstract profile of a dragon's head. This formation of an arch again canopies a boy sitting (only one sitting) behind a large melon shaped drum(?) (or lantern?) with both hands on top (sketch misses this). The other two boys on this side are running, one after the other. The boy in the front carries a pole over his shoulder as he looks toward the boy playing a drum. An object, perhaps a toy

rabbit, hangs from the back end of the pole The boy close behind him has his sleeve covered hand to his mouth as if to stifle laughter before he grabs away the suspended object. They run diagonally down alongside the final Taihu boulder as if to run to the bottom to the water's edge.

The fact that no seal marks were placed within the composition of the Moon Gate side also gives some weight to choosing that side as most likely to be the front; the seals that were visible from that side were out of the composition, placed as if "riding the seam" seals on paintings. One of these was the "Shen-p'in" seal name of Ming collector, Hsiang Yüan-pien ( 1525-1590), "frequently called by his hao, Hsiang Mo-lin, the collector so addicted to seals.." Was this collector, "so addicted to seals" one of the first to put his seal name on jade, as already common on paintings, and did he set that example for Qianlong to follow?

Pine trees remain green through the winter, can exist on the sides of rocky mountains and are long lived. It is not surprising, then, that they are metaphors for survival, longevity, and the moral character of the virtuous man. In Wu Boli's famous painting, Dragon Pine, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), in the Met Museum, the tree may represent, in addition to the Dragon, the Daoist sage, or "perfected being." With their twisting trunks, lichen-studded bark, and exposed roots, such trees recall the coiled body, powerful talons, and bristling scales of a dragon — the embodiment of natural forces that Daoist masters seek to channel.

The wavy curvature of the pine tree's terminal branching on our vase (dragon's tail) edges gracefully into the bottom of the cloud line, while parts of the upper layer of clouds curl together in the puffy cumulus of Lingzhi mushroom form. The Lingzhi with trailing "tail" morphology for clouds, particularly those carrying Apsara, were predominant in Dunhuang murals dated to Tang. The mushroom head was distinctly lobed and the "tail" most often twisted. This pattern slowly dissipated in favor of wavy lines until by Qing it was hardly used. The style of clouds for this vase suggests a pre Qing date, as does the use of uncluttered space in the composition. The space allocated for sky in the upper register of this landscape is between 1/3 and 1/4 of the canvas. The water's edge below and the clouds above complete the cohesion. This use of space would be rare for Qing and late Ming jade pictorial carving, most of which have stone grottos or mountains that take up the sky. And some of these grottoes are carved in stones that strangely "hang" vertically like flattened stalactites.

Both landscape scenes feature the arching branches of two closely adjacent, gnarled pine trees, symbol of endurance and longevity. The branches protectively canopy most of the vigorously animated boys at play below them. The two pine tree's spreading segments have identical umbrella-shaped tufts of pine needles. And the umbrella shapes used to represent circular groupings of needles with a central core are also symbolic of a protection. As early as Wei Dynasty, umbrellas, called the Luo Umbrella, were used in official ceremonies and rites. (1) Umbrellas, signifying rank were "used in the inspection tours of emperors or senior officials in ancient times to show protection over the people." It is also often used in wedding ceremonies in China to symbolize the protective role of the groom over the future wife and children.

Legend has it that the umbrella was invented 3500 years ago by a man named, Luban, who got the idea from children using broad-

leaves, like those of the banana tree, as protection against the rain.

The banana tree, appearing between the boys and the Moon Gate Wall, has not only pleasing sonorous connotations of rain pitter-pattering on the broad leaves, well known to the literati painters, but it has fertility characteristics as well. The singular banana fruit itself is an easily understood phallic symbol, and the long stalks of bananas and the repetitive fruition give additional weight to a meaning of fertility.

We have, therefore, a repeating and uniting theme of fertility and protection, with the banana plant on the vase joining the dragon pine and the prominent pair of elephants, known for motherly protection, in that symbolic role.

The legendary reputation of jade as having protective and enduring properties plus the thought provoking nature of an empty, yet intrinsically valuable and full of potential, vase - add an encompassing atelier for the pictorial and sculptural creation. And all of these give thematic support to celebration of procreation, the joy and vivacity of healthy offspring, empty vessels with full expectations, the protection of walled gardens with guardian dragon pines, towering Taihu scholar stones, and the shelter of a pavilion and broad-leaved plants.

Although the grammar of ornament used on this remarkably large vase is that of symbols and metaphors often learned by the educated elite through the written word of poetry or art history, esoteric meanings unlocked by education, it is markedly free of the baser superfluity of imagery added strictly for homonymic meaning, such as the later Ming and Qing, rather ubiquitous bat and crane.

Called rebuses, an illiterate can understand them by image recognition and same sound association with a homonym, which is somewhat like a pun, with its double meaning. They may have been first used, therefore, on cheaply produced crafts for the uneducated populace, or folk. A bat, or fu in Chinese, for example, has the same sound as "blessing." It is an auspicious creature, therefore, because of the second meaning. And sticking bats and other creatures with rebus meanings onto an object with no regard for aesthetic contribution disrupts and diminishes other symbols that are more significant and less superficial.

There is a whole repertoire of rebuses that seem to have proliferated along with mass produced ceramics for the burgeoning merchant class and foreign export at least by the Ming period. They became more profuse and stuck in here and there with little regard for composition during the overly ornate, horror vacui, rococo decadence of most that were made in Qing.

To some, among the poets and philosophers, perhaps -to those rare few who would have had access to view and the education to understand the auspicious messages of this palatial vase, there may even have been an unintended message about the totally disproportionate advantages born unfairly to Emperors and the privileged. Perhaps, even, of life's unfairness overall.

The pine tree, however, spreading like the flying body of a dragon, extending from one side of the vase to the other, and hovering protectively above the playing boys, lucky nine in number, is undoubtedly and ingeniously the key compositional element of the total pictorial narrative. Topped only by the power, beauty and motherly protection of the over-seeing elephant heads in their full 3-dimensional portrayal.

THE SEAL MARKS

Many of the Imperial Qing seal marks on our vase are the same as found on the four colossal mountain jade sculptures in the Gugong, and the "Epidendrum Pavilion" mountain in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The only ones not Qing are two different collector's seal marks from the same collector datable as Ming.

Although carved in relief, as a jade seal would be, and usually of archaic form and style, as a jade seal would be, on jade the seal marks the columns of characters are positioned and read, mirrored, as if stamped.

Seal marks were used by the emperors to appraise and appreciate art. It was also customary for collectors and connoisseurs of art to affix their seals on the surface of a scroll of painting or calligraphy. The paintings acquired by the imperial household were affixed by the imperial seal. Many famous paintings from the Forbidden City have seals of generations of subsequent emperors on them.

The fact that Imperial Qing seal marks were carved in relief on jade favored by Qianlong is indisputable as attested by the marks on the four colossal mountain jade sculptures present in the Gugong since the Emperor had them placed there. Apparently, they were too huge to be transferred to Taipei during the Revolution as were thousands of more portable art objects. The NPM in Taipei does have many jade objects taken from the Gugong with Imperial seal marks attributed to Qianlong. Some of the jade with Qing seal marks are as early as Neolithic. One, identified in an exhibition in 2001 of Qija-related jade organized by curator Yang Meili has seals, inscriptions, and a wooden stand datable to the Imperial Qing collection.

Qianlong's imperial seal marks, moreover, are verified on hundreds, if not thousands, of art objects in the imperial collection, often identified as "The forest of Gems of the Library Halls and Treasure Chests of the Stone Moat," with the most prevalent and authenticate-able being the paintings and calligraphy. It only stands to reason that he would not exempt jade from his imperial mark of approval and ownership as he, himself, repeatedly indicated that jade was his favorite genre of art.

Our vase: one two round (zhuwen), two oval, one horizontal, one vertical, one gourd or hour-glass, and the rest are square or near square. None are incised. Most are seal marks of the imperial collection, and only one is a reign mark (Qianlong).

In making authentications of paintings, the noted Professor James Cahill often used seal marks as evidence to as he once remarked when presenting his conclusions during an international symposium at the Metropolitan Museum.

Seal marks can trace the complete provenance of some works of art as in this study by Clunas: "Wintry Trees after Li Cheng, now in the British Museum, is painted on paper, Wen Zhengming's preferred medium. The work carries near its top the physical traces of its passage through history; seals and inscriptions have been added by subsequent owners, including the symbolically central seal and colophon of the eighteenth-century Qianlong emperor (r.1736-95). (Clunas) ... the very famous elite artist Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) can be immediately situated in this context: `Wintry Trees' of 1543 was painted shortly after the funeral of the artist's wife, as a gift for a member of her family who had travelled to participate in the ritual, while `Ancient Cypress' of 1550" (Clunas). "The forest and the composition are dominated by the single tall pine rising from the center, unchanged symbol of strength and enduring virtue, as if directly reflecting Confucius: `Only when the year grows cold do we see that the pine and cypress do not fade'." (Clunas).

The Sheep & Goat painting by Zhao Mengfu has 7 of the same seals as found on jade vase, including both of Hsiang Yuan-pien's (1525-1590/1602) collector seal mark names: "T'ui-mi" (hourglass or gourd shape outline)and "Shen-p'in." This famous collector and his seal marks can be dated to the Ming dynasty, although the Sheep & Goat painting was done at an earlier time by Zhao Mengfu, in the Yuan dynasty. This should give a dating of not later than Ming for the 9 Boys (and 2 elephant heads) pictorial (and sculptural) jade Hu vase.

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Carved in round shape and in relief, zhuwen, with four seal script characters, Taishang Huangdi, Emperor Emeritus or "Highest Emperor" does not have the fifth and sixth characters, Zhibao, 'Treasure". This important seal is "mirrored" as seal mark on our vase.

On the palatial vase being studied, the "T'ui-mi" collector's seal was placed right of center discreetly over the needle clumps of the Pine tree on the back, or Pavillion, side, and the "Shen-p'in" was placed, also discreetly, above center to the far right margin of the front, Moon Bridge, side. The front and back sides are being determined by taking the composition of both sides as a whole (see drawing) and considering it as a scroll(*S) which would unfurl from right to left (more on that follows) to the backside (2nd "page" or half of scroll) of the vase and with the seal name of a famous Ming dynasty collector from whose collection Emperor Qinglong later acquired many works of art.(1) Although the "boys playing" was still a favorite in Qing, the placement of the Ming seal mark fits into the composition of the pictorial landscape, as in a painting, such as

"Sheep and Goat” by Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫, 1254-1322). see painting below.

The seal would have been conspicuously out of place, even a defacement, on an otherwise plain surface, beautiful for its jade quality alone. The additional 11 seals are from Qianlong and were added in a similar pattern as found on paintings and first studied on jade by Ellen Johnston Laing. The vase with remarkable elephant heads at the neck and articulate fringes on the sides of a body of unadorned elegant simplicity is suggested to have been originally carved in the Yuan dynasty, with features of pictorial art and collectors' seals added first in Ming and then Qing.

------------(1)

Sixteenth-Century Patterns of Art Patronage: Qiu Ying and the Xiang FamilyEllen Johnston LaingJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 111, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1991), pp. 1-7------------------(2)

"Sheep and Goat” by Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫, 1254-1322), Freer|Sackler Galleries of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, F1931.4

It has been said that if one cannot make history, at least one would like to leave his imprints. The seal marks are known to have two objectives: an imprint on the historical artifact and a validation of the authenticity of the work.

On one of the most important Yuan paintings in the Freer Gallery of Art collection, “Sheep and Goat” by Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫, 1254-1322), the Emperor Qianlong left comments in the center of the masterpiece and ironically, regardless of the aesthetics of this already ancient to him painting. In order to have room to place his two most complimentary and important seals, however, a side margin to the right was added unabashedly with a different textured background (Note the qifeng yin "Riding the Joint Seal," ). These are the Taishang Huangdi, Emperor Emeritus or "Highest Emperor" and the Gu xi tian zi: "A son of heaven as rarely seen since antiquity." Both of these seals in circular format and 4 character relief marks (zhuwen) are prominently located on our vase.

The Sheep & Goat painting by Zhao Mengfu has 7 of the same seals as found on the jade vase, including both collector's seals of Xiang Yuanbian or Hsiang

Yuan-pien (1525-1590/1602) with collector seal mark names: "T'ui-mi" (hourglass or gourd shape outline) and "Shen-

p'in" (rectangle) Under elephant head ring on left side. This famous collector and his seal marks can be dated to the Ming dynasty, although the Sheep & Goat painting was done at an earlier time by Zhao Mengfu in the Yuan dynasty. This should give a dating of not later than Ming for the 9 Boys (and 2 elephant heads) pictorial (and sculptural) jade Hu vase.

"The value to be placed on a collector's seal is in direct relation to his reputation as a man of discernment and knowledge. There are many who deserve deep respect. Of the Yüan Dynasty, the seal of Chao Meng-fu, the great painter, calligrapher, and statesman, occurs on pictures of high quality. Hsiang Yüan-pien ( 1525-1590), frequently called by his hao, Hsiang Mo-lin, the collector so addicted to seals, assembled a vast collection, and his seals are met with more often than any other." "In the eighteenth century a large number passed into the Imperial Collection." (Crawford 29) Catalogue of the Exhibition of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr

Please see preceding sketch of joined sides of the vase to view seal marks, their location in composition and their identity, and, below the images of many of the actual seal marks on the vase.

Jon Edwards