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Two-handled bowl

Two-handled bowl

18th century

The artist who made this bowl took advantage of natural variations found in agate stones to create a colorful inlay scheme complementing the floral motifs on the bowl’s underside and handles. He carved the inlay agate in the form of petals and added veins to transform the jade into leaves. The bowl was likely made in the imperial Mughal workshop in the early 1700s. Such exquisite Mughal decorative arts were admired across India and as far as China, where the Qianlong emperor collected many and often had them inscribed with his poetry.
White nephrite, inlaid with gold, enamel, jadeite, agate, and emerald
1 3/4 x 6 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. (4.45 x 15.88 x 13.34 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
33.91
location
Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, October 13, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.
Published ReferencesWatt, James C.Y. and Michael Knight, Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1989, no. 101 (NB: catalogue entry erroneously references an inscription and a lid; these both exist on a comparable bowl in the Palace Museum, Taipei, not the SAM example)

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