Stealing Immortality

Master of the Rocks school, 1740–1860
Height: 5.1 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.53/1.52 and 1.50 cm (oval)
Stopper: tourmaline; silver collar

Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd (Hong Kong, 1994)
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 27 May 2013, lot 175

Published:
Kleiner 1995, no. 86
Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1995, no. 133

Exhibited:
British Museum, London, June–October 1995

Nephrite, of pebble material with artificial colour; with a concave lip, flat foot and convex footrim; carved on one main side with Dongfang Shuo 東方朔standing beneath a flying bat in a rocky landscape and holding over his shoulder a branch growing with two of the peaches of immortality, the narrow sides each with a chi dragon and the other main side with an inscription in draft script, Zai tian wei xingjing, jiang wei Han ming chen, huixie yiqun在天為星精，降為漢名臣，詼諧軼群 [‘In heaven he was the essence of a star; he descended to become a famous minister of the Han; his humorous wit was above the crowd’], followed by the signature Zigang in seal script, the pebble-skin enhanced by staining.