Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A CHINESE CELADON JADE 'MOUNTAIN' CARVING

QIANLONG 1736-95

Formed as rounded craggy peaks, decorated in relief to one side with a monkey holding a peach as he kneels before a seated scholar, they sit beneath wutong and pine trees, carved in openwork with a pavilion to one side and a tall tower in the distance, with a further wutong tree growing amidst rocks to the reverse, the stone with some russet and white inclusions, 15.6cm. (2)

Provenance: from the collection of Sir Archibald John Boyd (c.1889-1959) and Lady Boyd, and thence by descent. Sir Archibald was chairman of the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company and of The Patent Shaft and Axletree Company. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Oxford, and then joined the steelworks of Cammell Laird and Co, Sheffield, as a pupil in 1912. In 1929, the company merged with Vickers Ltd forming the Metropolitation-Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company, and Sir Archibald became its managing director five years later. During the Second World War, the company produced fighting vehicles and Sir Archibald was seconded to the Ministry of Supply as Director-General of Tank Production between October 1942 and December 1943. In 1950, Sir Archibald received his knighthood and he was appointed as the company's chairman in 1956.