A WHITE JADE ‘SCHOLARS’ PLAQUE, SIGNED ZIGANG, LATE QING DYNASTY TO REPUBLIC PERIOD

A WHITE JADE ‘SCHOLARS’ PLAQUE, SIGNED ZIGANG, LATE QING DYNASTY TO REPUBLIC PERIOD China, 1850-1949. The plaque of rectangular form, finely chiseled in low relief with scholars in a garden scene, the reverse with an excerpt from the poem ‘A trip to Mountains (Shanxing)’ by Du Mu. The upper register decorated with kui dragons centered by an aperture for suspension. The translucent stone of a white color with cloudy white inclusions. Inscriptions: The poem, ‘The meandering stone trail leads to mountains cold, afar, a household must be hiding where the white clouds start’ and signed Zigang. Provenance: Ex-collection Simone and Alan Hartman. The jade with an original paper label with cyphers from Hartman. Alan Hartman was born on 9 January 1930, the son of Hazel and Urban Hartman. Urban Hartman opened a shop dealing in Oriental art on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 1927 and Hartman Rare Art was incorporated in 1945. Alan grew up surrounded by works of art; he purchased his first jade when he was a child – he was 12 – and from that moment until his passing, he continued to acquire antiques and works of art. For a while Alan worked with his brother, Roland, and when they split, he made the decision to run the business on his own. Hence the name Rare Art was to endure, and Alan owned substantial galleries on Madison Avenue in New York and at one point stores in Dallas and Palm Beach. Anyone who visited his New York stores will remember that it was easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of the stock – including Chinese artworks from the Neolithic era to the 20th century, Japanese works of art, silver, and a variety of jades and hardstones. Privately, however, Alan and his second wife, the love of his life, Simone, purchased special pieces for their homes – fine Japanese works of art and objets de vertu, Impressionist paintings, magnificent jades, the best Tang and Ming ceramics, archaic Chinese bronzes, gold boxes, and an important collection of Huguenot silver. Parts of his collection have been donated to the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Brooklyn Museum, and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and small natural fissures. Weight: 58.1 g Dimensions: Length 6.8 cm Little is known regarding Lu Zigang in contrast with his legendary reputation as the finest Suzhou jade carver. Craig Clunas notes that Lu's name appeared in the 1642 edition of the Gazetteer of Taicang Subprefecture, Taicangzhou Zhi, recording him as a native of this district, 'fifty years ago there was in this prefecture a certain Lu Zigang, whose skill at carving [jade] with the knife remains unsurpassed to the present. Jade hairpins by him sell for fifty or sixty ounces of silver each. See Craig Clunas, Superfluous Things. Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China, Honolulu, 1991, p. 64. Du Mu (803-852) was a famous poet, calligrapher, and politician in the Tang dynasty. He is best remembered for his lyrical and romantic quatrains. The grandson of the eminent historian and Grand Councilor Du You 杜佑 (735-812), Du Mu was well read in the Confucian and military classics. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Bonhams San Francisco, 10 December 2012, lot 5113 Price: USD 7,500 or approx. EUR 9,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Description: A white jade plaque, Late Qing/Republic period Expert remark: Compare the related form, motif, color of the jade, signature Zigang, and size (7.2 cm).