A RARE MUGHAL GREEN JADE LEAF-SHAPED SEGMENTED BOX AND COVER

India, 18th century

India, 18th century
The semi-translucent dark-green stone exquisitely carved as a six-lobed flower with one side issuing a pointed leaf, the cover carved with interlocking flowering stems encircling a central flowerhead, the interior of the box divided and hollowed into seven sections. 13.5cm (5 3/8in) long. (2).

十八世紀 痕都斯坦式碧玉葉形盒

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

This expertly-carved box and cover in the form of a Bodhi leaf demonstrates the skill of the craftsmen who were producing fine objects within the Mughal Empire from the beginning of the 17th century and throughout the 19th century.

Mughal jades were greatly praised by the Chinese Court during the eighteenth century and the Qianlong Emperor especially admired them. The first carved Mughal jade bowl sent from Central Asia as tribute to the Imperial Court is recorded for AD 1756, and thereafter tribute gifts of this type continued throughout the Emperor's reign and beyond. The Emperor was fascinated by these beautiful objects and wrote more than seventy poems eulogising the many Mughal-style jade carvings in his collection. In these poems he praised the exceptional skills of the carvers together with the purity of the material; see the Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, pp.83-93.

For a further example of a Mughal jade multi-compartmentalised flower-form box and cover, see Treasures from Across the Kunlun Mountains: Islamic Jades in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 2015, p.186, no.187; another related white jade leaf-shaped lobed box and cover, featuring a similar arrangement of compartments, is illustrated in Exquisite Beauty. Islamic Jades, Taipei, 2007, p.159, no.200.

A related white jade Mughal lobed leaf-shaped box and cover, 18th/19th century, was sold at Christie's New York, 14 September 2012, lot 1028.

碧玉琢作菩提葉形，器壁雕琢圖案化的花葉紋，內分七淺格。此痕都斯坦式玉盒細緻流麗，因循古印度蒙兀兒皇朝傳統。在蒙兀兒帝國治下，伊斯蘭玉器逐漸形成獨特的裝飾風格，乾隆中期二十一年（1756）記載痕都斯坦玉器自中亞傳入進貢帝王，令乾隆皇帝大為激賞，自此以降，同類貢品時可見之。造辦處亦招募回族玉匠琢作此類玉器。不出數載至乾隆二十九年（1764）造辦處之中國匠人已能十足摹作。乾隆帝傾愛痕都斯坦式玉器，曾作超過七十首御製詩讚譽匠人臻化巧工，玉質純潔淨美。參鄧淑蘋著《故宮所藏痕都斯坦玉器特展》，國立故宮博物院，台北，1983年。

參考台北國立故宮博物院藏一件花形分隔盒，收錄於《越過崑崙山的珍寶——院藏伊斯蘭玉器特展》，台北，2016年，頁186；及一例葉形盒，收錄於鄧淑蘋主編《國色天香——伊斯蘭玉器》，台北，2007年，頁159，編號200。

紐約佳士得曾售一件十八/十九世紀白玉葉形盒，2012年9月14日，拍品編號1028，可為比對。