Set of six rings with carved wood case
Six rings, three in white hetian jade and the rest in green, differ in design and treatment from one another. One white jade ring depicts two intellectuals meeting in a rocky landscape, surrounded by their three "friends": pine trees, plum blossoms, and bamboo. A poem comments on the scene in eight sentences, each containing five characters, read vertically: "By water streams at the mountain foot, unexpected branches of a charming (plum) appeared suddenly. Flying sparks of (water) beads would fall to stun the sages, but the waterfall seems to be suspended in the sky. Even a gentleman of honor can be despised by a lady; one's failure would be remembered long. Does good news in spring signal a success? (No), an arrow cannot remain on a bow forever. By His Majesty in the spring of renwu" (1762). The poem ends with two seal marks.
Another white jade ring bears four characters in the main field, reading Qianlong nianzhi (produced during the Qianlong period), arranged alternately in a circle and a square, each flanked by symmetrical tendrils (National Palace Museum 1976, vol. 3, chap. 17, p. 5). The upper border is encircled with a band of C scrolls arranged into triangle forms.
The third white ring has a border design of birds and beasts standing among clouds, encircling the upper and lower rims. The main field bears four characters flanked by stylized dragons, reading Qianlong yuzhi (produced for the use of his majesty Qianlong).
One green ring is rendered with four-character medallions, each framed with bosses (ornamental raised areas), and alternating with floral scrolls.
On another green ring, two squares display symbols on opposite sides on a background of a C-shaped clouds, one square enclosing the character qian (sky) and the other, its diagram mark (a series of lines that symbolize sky).
Four roundels containing the mark of the Qianlong reign on the last green ring alternate with four beasts amid a ground of small circular beads. A frieze of meander encircles the top and bottom rims. All six rings have been treated to produce brown patches on their surfaces. The incisions and shallow relief are worked evenly.
The case—three connected cylinders—has a base consisting of three domed circles and a cover with three stud knobs that serve as legs. Two inner trays, each containing three rings, are stacked inside. The base is embellished with a pair of curled dragons in clouds, and a similar design graces two raised friezes on the outside of the case, on an incised meander background, bordered by a raised meander frieze above and below. The cover is adorned with raised banana leaves edged by a meander band. Exquisite inlays of gold and silver reveal superb eighteenth-century craft.
Several sets of rings were made with such cases for the Qianlong court in different years. A set of three rings in a cylindrical tray was published in a catalogue of the Palace Museum collection (Palace Museum, Beijing 1995, vol. 42, plate 187). One of them bears a landscape inscribed with a poem identical to that on the AAM set. The other two depict figures in a landscape, one of which has an inscription dating to 1766. Obviously this set lost the other three and the outer case. It is most likely that the AAM ring with the poem belongs to the Palace Museum set and that the other five AAM rings, on which the primary subjects are not landscapes with figures but literary words, are missing their sixth ring. They were apparently assembled into the case together when they left the palace.
