A RARE WHITE AND GREY JADE 'DRAGON' SEALQianlong/JiaqingThe square seal sensationally worked and polished in the form of a pedestal of square section, surmounted by a boldly articulated dragon depicted crouching on its haunches with its head above a flaming pearl amidst ruyi-shaped cloud swirls, its powerful claws meticulously rendered and its sinuous body intricately detailed with incisions, the underside left uncarved, the conjoined mid-body pierced with an aperture, the stone of even white tone with areas of grey inclusions.7.6cm (3in) squareProvenance: 清乾隆/嘉慶 灰白玉盤龍戲珠方璽Provenance:A distinguished Asian private collection來源：亞洲顯赫私人收藏The finial of the seal is finely sculpted in the form of a dragon intertwined with clouds. The dragon's head is robust and imposing, its four claws spread across the four corners of the seal, and its body weaves in and out of auspicious clouds, sometimes articulated down to individual nails. The dragon demonstrates the sheer skill of jade carvers at the time. After the Jiaqing Emperor ascended the throne (1799), following court precedence he organised the Qianlong Emperor's Imperial seals and consolidated them in storage. The seals and seal sets made in the two regnal periods were often found simialr: see a related but smaller Qianlong period white jade 'Ziqiang buxi' seal sold in our London rooms, 11 November 2010, lot 55, later sold again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7 October 2015, lot 3621, the finial is also superbly carved with the dragon and clouds similarly arranged as the present seal.pare also with a smaller Jiaqing period russet jade 'Jiaqing yushang' seal, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, lot 3654.方璽雕刻十分精細，龍頭威猛有力，四爪分佈於印的四角，龍身隱現於祥雲之中，身體各部分交待清晰，龍鱗刻畫細緻入微，顯示出製作工匠高超的玉器琢刻水準，彌足珍貴。嘉慶皇帝親政後（1799），按照成例對乾隆皇帝的寶璽進行整理，將散存於各處的乾隆皇帝御用璽印收存起來統一保存，而後其在寶璽製作及組璽的刻製上也大量秉承了乾隆皇帝時期的設計。見一乾隆御寶白玉坐龍方璽，印文「自強不息」，先在2010年11月11日於倫敦邦瀚斯售出，拍品55，後於2015年10月7日在香港蘇富比售出，拍品3621，尺寸較小，造型與本品十分相近，可資參考。另見一嘉慶褐斑白玉盤龍戲珠鈕御寶，印文「嘉慶御賞」，尺寸同樣較小，於2014年10月8日在香港蘇富比釋出，拍品3654。