A RETICULATED WHITE JADE ‘GUANYIN’ PLAQUE, LATE QING DYNASTY TO REPUBLIC PERIOD China, 1850-1949. The plaque of rectangular form, finely chiseled and reticulated with a scrolling band of lotus vines, framing a seated figure of a Guanyin holding a lotus sprig in her hands, her face with a serene expression. The lower register with a bat and the upper register depicting a lotus blossom. The translucent stone of a white color with cloudy white inclusions. 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. Weight: 42 g Dimensions: Length 6.2 cm Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2018, lot 456 Estimate: HKD 60,000 or approx. EUR 8,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Description: An inscribed white jade oval plaque, Qing dynasty Expert remark: Compare the related design, color of the jade, and size (5.7 cm). Note the form.