A superbly carved white and russet jade 'Peach and Bat' washer, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

with rounded sides rising from a flat base supported on four short splayed feet, the incurved rim worked with a rounded spout on one side, the exterior flanked by a pair of handles depicted in openwork as a cluster of lingzhi blooms, the rim accentuated on one side with a bat with outstretched wings, across a gnarled leafy stem extending from the exterior to the rim, the translucent stone of an even white colour with attractive russet markings.

Note: he quality of this stone, skilfully accentuated through the finely finished plain surfaces and selective inclusion of the russet skin, perfectly complements the auspicious wishes represented through the peach, bat and lingzhi branches. Animals and plants whose names were homophonous to words with favourable meanings were commonly employed in Qing decorative arts. A peach (tao) with bat (fu) and lingzhi fungus represents the wish, 'May your heart be filled with intelligence with blessings arrive (fuzhi xinling); a motif popular on jade carvings of the period which could be depicted with or without a peach.

Compare a peach-shape washer, carved to the sides with a long stalk and leaves along with two bats, from the Alan and Simon Hartman collection, illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 107; and another of quatrefoil section, the rim carved with a bat grasping a beribboned shou character in its mouth extending across the width of the vessel, flanked by a pair of chilong handles, sold at Christie's London, 4th December 1995, lot 272, again at Christie's Hong Kong, 26th April 1999, lot 509; and a third time in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3038.