The object is a study in patience. Jade holds a polish no metal keeps, and the 乾隆 workshop used that slow shine to signal rank and restraint at once.
A object in jade was never merely pretty. In a culture that called its rulers’ virtue ‘jade-like’, the stone was a standard as much as a material.
The Imperial taste for jade favoured objects that could be held and turned, read in the palm as much as on the shelf. A object was a private argument about refinement.
Jade is the slowest possible reply to fashion. This object is Sinocra’s reason for keeping the craft in view, with more from The Palace Museum in the shop.
Object details
| Name | Rosewood inlaid jade poem album with eight pillars in the Orchid Pavilion of the Emperor Qianlong (紫檀嵌玉乾隆御临兰亭八柱帖诗册) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 故00121973-1/8 |
| Technique | Jade |
| Period | Imperial dynasty, 乾隆 reign (1736-1795) |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum Digital Collection.