A RARE CHINESE ARCHAISTIC CELADON JADEITE 'TWELVE SYMBOLS' TABLET

QING DYNASTY

Formed as a gui sceptre and bi disc, the gui decorated with the Twelve Symbols, the bi carved in relief with many raised bosses, the stone with some russet inclusions and white mottling, together with a wood stand, 21.9cm. (2)

Provenance: from an English private collection, Hampshire, purchased c.1960.

Cf. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), pp.160-161, no.129 for another jade gui decorated with the Twelve Treasures; see also Sotheby's New York, 15th September 2015, lot 200 for another comparable piece with this design; see also J Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, p.92, fig.88 for a Ming dynasty jade also formed as a gui combined with a bi in the British Museum, museum no.1947,0712.495.

The Twelve Symbols, or Twelve Ornaments, are comprised of the sun with the three-legged crow, the moon with the moon rabbit pounding the elixir of life, a constellation of three stars, a sacred mountain or rock, a dragon, a pheasant, sacrificial vessels, a spray of waterweed, flames, grains, an axe, and the figure fu.