Property from the Collection of Colonel Tom HallA spinach-green jade 'landscape' brushpotQing dynasty, Qianlong periodDiameter 17 cm, 6¾ in.__________________________________________________________________________Collection du Colonel Tom Hall (1928-2022) Pot à pinceaux en jade vert épinard à décor de paysage, dynastie Qing, époque Qianlong__________________________________________________________________________Tom Hall上校 (1928-2022) 珍藏清乾隆 碧玉雕福祿壽三星圖筆筒来源: Spink & Son Ltd, London, 6th May 1968.Collection Harold Wesley Hall (1888-1974), label no. 18, thence in the family by descent.__________________________________________________________________________倫敦斯賓克，1968年5月6日Harold Wesley Hall（1888-1974）珍藏，編號18（標籤），此後家族傳承专文: This beautifully carved spinach-green jade brush pot exemplifies the 'pictorial jades', where the jade workshop treats the surface of the material like a scroll. To achieve the high-relief effects, the jade must be carved deeply and intricately, using various depths and openwork. Creating a jade brush pot like this necessitates a combination of the craftsman's exceptional skills and a sufficient supply of large-sized jade material.It is generally believed that only after the conquest of the Western territories of the empire (xiyu) in 1759, the Qing imperial court gained continuous access to jade from Khotan (Hetian) in modern-day Xinjiang. From then on, a larger quantity of jade ware was produced under the Qing imperial commission. Besides white jade, the Qianlong emperor also favoured jade of a deep spinach-green colour. In addition to commissioning numerous works of art, including imperial seals and brush pots in ‘spinach jade’ (lü yu) for his palaces, the emperor also penned several imperial poems expressing his appreciation for this material.This brush pot features a Daoist figure scene of three elderly figures walking in the mountains toward a distant pavilion, one holding herbs of immortality, one leaning on a staff, under a group of pine trees. In the far distance, a boy is depicted holding a peach, together with a pair of deer. A similar auspicious theme can be seen on a spinach-green jade table screen inscribed with an imperial poem, which helps us to identify the trio as the Star Gods of Fu (fortune), Lu (prosperity), and Shou (longevity), see Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, 1996, pl. 124.Figures in a landscape are a common theme on imperial spinach-green jade brush pots. Three comparable examples from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are illustrated in Gongting zhi ya, Qingdai fanggu ji huayi yuqi tezhan tulu / The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jade of the Ch`ing Court , Taipei, 1997, cat no. 58, no. 55 of smaller size, also without feet, and cat no. 56 of slightly larger size with feet; compare also three spinach-green jade examples from the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji, Yuqi/ The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pls. 168-170.Another related brush pot depicting a landscape scene with figures is illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collections of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl.113, and one is published in The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade, London, 2013, cat. no. 45; compare also a piece depicting a group of immortals within a landscape, from the former collection of Alfred Morrison, Fonthill House, sold at Christie`s London, 9th July 1980, lot 105, later in the collections of Donald J. Wineman, and Florence and Herbert Irving, recently sold in our New York rooms, 10th September 2019, lot 15.__________________________________________________________________________本品浮雕繁複，紋飾沿筒身而刻，如卷軸畫般環筒觀之，趣味盎然，為清代尤其流行的「畫意玉器」。玉匠採用深淺浮雕和鏤空等多種工藝技法細意雕刻，使畫面極具立體感。除了超卓雕工外，製作此類筆筒也需不惜工本，使用大件玉料一體雕琢而成。乾隆二十四年（1759年），清廷平定西域全境，據信清宮自此玉路大開，得以從現今新疆源源不絕地輸入和闐玉料，製作大量玉器。乾隆皇帝嗜玉成癖，除白玉外，碧玉也甚得帝心，多次下令以他稱為「綠玉」的碧玉製作玉璽和筆筒，並創作多首題詠碧玉的御製詩。本品器身刻道教人物通景畫，三位老人漫步山中，走向遠方小亭，松樹林裡一人手持仙草，一人策杖前行；遠景有一小童手捧桃實，有對鹿相伴。一件鐫有御題詩的碧玉插屏亦以刻相類的吉祥紋飾，從中可判斷本品所刻三人為福祿壽三星，見Robert Kleiner，《Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman》，1996年，圖版124。山水人物是碧玉筆筒的常見主題，台北國立故宮博物院收藏三例，圖載於《宮廷之雅：清代仿古及畫意玉器特展圖錄》，台北，1997年，圖錄編號58，同書並載兩例，編號55，尺寸較小，亦無筒足，另一例編號56，尺寸較大，有筒足。另比碧玉筆筒三例，北京故宮博物院收藏，圖載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集・玉器（下）》，香港，1995年，圖版168–170。另比一筆筒例，刻山水人物，圖載於Robert Kleiner，《Chinese Jades from the Collections of Alan and Simone Hartman》，香港，1996年，圖版113；再比一例，圖載於《The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade》，倫敦，2013年，圖錄編號45。另比一例，刻山水仙道人物，初屬放山居艾弗瑞・莫里森舊藏，售於倫敦佳士得1980年7月9日，編號105，再先後由唐納德・J・瓦恩曼及弗洛朗絲與赫伯特・歐雲伉儷雅蓄，售於紐約蘇富比，2019年9月10日，編號15。