Square white jade box with “Haiwu tianchou” motif for blessing longevity, Attributed to Lu Zigang, Ming dynasty (1368-1644)-China Archive

Image Number: K1C004590N000000000PAJ
Dynasty: Ming dynasty
Category: Jades
Function: Stationery
Material: Mineral/Jade Jewelry/
Description:
White jade, slightly grayish blue, is bright and clean. Square box, slightly bulged cover, straight wall, flat concave bottom. The buildings, distant mountains and floating clouds in the sea waves are covered in shallow relief, and the two cranes fly in one rank. The lines are outlined in fine Yangwen, which is like a line drawing. In the upper right corner, in cursive lettering, “Make more money for the sea.”. And a white seal character square seal: “Zigang”. Camellia camellia are embossed on the four walls, and the patterns of the cover wall and the box wall are used to connect the branches, which is very ingenious. The bottom of the utensil has a seal character square seal: “Treasure”. Lu Zigang was a famous jade craftsman in Suzhou, south of the Yangtze River, at the end of the Ming Dynasty. He had a close relationship with the literati and scholars at that time. In local chronicles and notes, he wrote that most of his works were stationery, such as water injection and inkpad boxes, and he was good at making antique cases or shapes. The Zigang style objects that have been seen from generation to generation are mostly pictorial composition, poetry and prose in cursive script, and