AN 'IMPERIALLY INSCRIBED' WHITE JADE AXE WITH A ZITAN BOX AND COVER
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD, DATED TO THE DING WEI YEAR (CORRESPONDING TO 1787)
Poem: 'ZONG YING ZHOU CHI HENG ER CUN FU SHOU TU HUA YI SE WEN DAI SUO WU SHUANG CHU HE DAI YAN ZHI BU ZU GENG ZHANG YAN GONG CENG YU CI FU SHEN SHI YAN JI JU RAN SHAN SHI LUN YI SHI SHANG QING BAO DING CE XIAN CAI LIANG JIN LUO REN YUAN QIAN LONG DING WEI MENG CHUN YUE YU TI' Seal: 'GU XIANG' 'TAI PU' 'WU FU WU DAI TANG GU XI TIAN ZI BAO' 'TAI SHANG HUANG DI ZHI BAO'
Remark: with original zitan box and cover

L 12.1 cm (4 3/4 in) T 0.7 cm (1/4 in)

Provenance: An old collection of a Taiwanese collector

Reference: 1. A jade ceremonial tablet from the late Longshan culture through the Erlitou culture, also incised with the 'WU FU WU DAI TANG GU XI TIAN ZI BAO' mark, is illustrated in PREHISTORIC JADE ARTIFACTS FROM THE YELLOW VALLEY IN THE NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM COLLECTION, by Yang Meili, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2001, p.80-81, no.1-6 2. A jade disc, bi, from the Qijia culture, also incised with the 'TAI SHANG HUANG DI ZHI BAO' mark, is illustrated in PREHISTORIC JADE ARTIFACTS FROM THE YELLOW VALLEY IN THE NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM COLLECTION, by Yang Meili, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2001, p.122-123, no.3-1 3. A jade ceremonial tablet, from the Shang dynasty, also inscribed with an imperial poem of Emperor Qianlong, was sold in the autumn auction of Dongzhen Auction on 11th November 2016, no. 214, RMB 4,370,000

ESTIMATE: HK$ 1,000,000 / RMB 880,000