A FINE PAIR OF MUGHAL PALE GREEN JADE BOWLS

India 18th/early 19th century

India 18th/early 19th century
Both elegantly modelled with steep and gently flaring sides rising from a spreading foot shaped as a blossoming chrysanthemum, delicately carved in low relief to the exterior with stylised floral stems issuing entwined leafy tendrils, all beneath scalloped rims, the thin translucent stone of even pale-green tone. Each 11.7cm (4 5/8in) diam. (2).

十八世紀/十九世紀早期 痕都斯坦式青白玉花式盌一對

Provenance:
Parry Collection, London, and thence by descent

來源：
倫敦Parry家族收藏，並由後人保存迄今

Notable for their thin and translucent bodies resting on a delicately-carved chrysanthemum feet, the present bowls are remarkable products displaying the high standards achieved by Mughal carvers during the 18th and early 19th century.

The Qianlong Emperor was a patron and avid collector of 'Hindustan' jades. The area he identified as the leading manufacturing location for fine jade carvings centred around the city of Agra, in Northern India. During the eighteenth century, this area was part of the Mughal Empire and thus the jades from this region are today often referred to as 'Mughal' jades. Between 1756 and 1794 the Qianlong Emperor compiled dozens of poems praising the translucency and delicacy of Mughal and Mughal-style jades. See 'Anthology of Imperial Qianlong Poems' Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji, Taipei, 1976. Such was the Emperor's fascination with these jades that in AD 1768 he also wrote a scholarly text, titled Tianzhu wuyindu kaoe, on the geography of Hindustan and the derivation of its name; see 'Tianzhu wu Yindu kao'e', in Yuzhi wenji, part 2, Siku quanshu, Taipei, 1983, 1301:411-2 (21:2b-5a).

Compare with a related white jade bowl, 18th century, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, displaying a similarly carved foot as the present bowl, illustrated in Exquisite Beauty. Islamic Jades, Taipei, 2007, p.57, no.45.

A related pale green Mughal-style bowl, Qianlong, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2008, lot 13.

青白玉質，圓盌侈口深腹。外壁淺浮雕纏繞的花葉紋，下緣圍繞一圈茛苕葉，器底另雕琢一朵平展的菊花。器壁輕薄，紋飾流暢，是十八世紀至十九世紀早期痕都斯坦玉匠巧奪天工之絕佳例證。

痕都斯坦即指蒙兀兒帝國，其疆域包括今印度北部、巴基斯坦及阿富汗東部等地。 1768年，乾隆皇帝親自撰《天竺五印度考訛》一文，考證發音，定名「痕都斯坦」；痕都斯坦玉則為乾隆帝對伊斯蘭玉器的統稱。在蒙兀兒帝國治下，伊斯蘭玉器逐漸形成獨特的裝飾風格，並於十八世紀後期經新疆源源不斷貢入清廷，因其「瑩薄如紙」、「看去有花葉，撫來無跡痕」而深得乾隆皇帝厚愛。乾隆皇帝認為薄、透、輕巧，是痕都斯坦玉工的絕技；縱覽《清高宗御製詩文全集》，1756至1794年間，乾隆皇帝曾賦詩六十四首之多，盛讚這種雕刻精細、紋飾繁複的裝飾工藝。

台北國立故宮博物院館藏一件十八世紀白玉雕四瓣花式盌，器底同琢成平展花卉，圖見於《國色天香——伊斯蘭玉器》，台北，2007年，頁57，編號045，可為比對。

另可參考一例痕都斯坦式青白玉盌，售於紐約蘇富比，2008年3月18日，拍品編號13。