book; storage box BM-As.3573

Period:Unknown Production date:1748
Materials:jade, gold, wood,
Technique:incised, gilded,
Subjects:dragon
Dimensions:Length: 19.30 centimetres (each leaf)

Description:
Jade book, with two covers and seven leaves incised on both sides with elaborate characters; all the same palindrome; each inscription executed in a different form, often in fanciful characters. Gilded and incised dragons on the covers. With wooden storage box carved and decorated with gold.
IMG


Comments:Rawson 1995Here, with utmost skill, a play is intended on the notion of antique characters inscribed on a jade book. Such books had, in a much earlier date, both imperial and religious connotations. In place of access to the divine, this book allowed the emperor to toy with invented characters that carried associations of elegance and authority appropriate to the writings of the Zhou dynasty.