A WHITE JADE ‘HUANG’ PLAQUE, LATE QING DYNASTY TO REPUBLIC PERIOD

A WHITE JADE ‘HUANG’ PLAQUE, LATE QING DYNASTY TO REPUBLIC PERIOD China, 1850-1949. The plaque of circular form, finely chiseled in low relief with two huang terminating in dragon heads and enclosing a central medallion with a young boy carrying a carp and flower, a lingzhi sprig to the lower left, and with two Chinese characters to the upper right. The reverse inscribed with a poem. The plaque pierced for suspension. The translucent stone of a white color with cloudy white inclusions. Inscriptions: The poem, ‘Good luck and fortune (ji xiang ru yi)’ 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 minuscule nibbling. The stone with a fine polish. Weight: 44.6 g Dimensions: Diameter 5.6 cm Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2005, lot 1537 Price: HKD 102,000 or approx. EUR 19,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Description: A fine large white jade circular plaque Expert remark: Compare the related form, motif, color of the jade, and size (5.7 cm). Note the dating to the 18th century.