Hinged square vases

Two square tubes of greenish-white hetian jade with swivel joints at the base form a double vase. The lower section of each tube has two discs, front and back, each with a hole in the middle; an identical disc on the base fits between them, and an axle goes through the holes in the centers of the three discs. Each tube can be rotated 90 degrees on the flat base, so that both can be upright vessels, one can be upright and the other tilted away or horizontal, or both can be horizontal to be used as a paperweight or ruler. The three sides of the vessel that are visible when both are upright, are decorated with a symmetrical design in shallow relief. Variations of stylized clouds appear in C shapes, lingzhi fungus, or chevron patterns, carved with refined lines in raised relief, single incisions, or double parallel lines. The visually striking upper part of each vase is a series of overlapped wide C shapes densely filled with cross-hatching.

The previous dating for this piece was erroneous. The form was recognized by a court writer (Liang [approx. 1700–1800] 1965, 6:3207) as that of a classical Han bronze vessel, which had provided the Qianlong imperial workshop with a model for jade. The base of one jade example is inscribed Da Qing Qianlong fanggu (copying archaism during the Qianlong period of the great Qing dynasty) (Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, vol. 42, plate 54). However, no similar hinged vessels have been found in Han tombs during modern archaeological excavations. The piece shown here differs from the imperial vessel in the arrangement of the motifs, the larger size of individual patterns, and the slightly less logical spatial arrangement of the composition. But its workmanship is fairly good.