17. FOUR-LOBED AGATE PLATE 14th-17th century A RARE AGATE QUATREFOIL DISH 14th - 17th century The colourful, translucent stone with natural banded ripples and eyes of golden-yellow, orange and honey-brown tones, superbly carved with a quatrefoil outline, with shallow rounded sides raising gracefully from a short foot of corresponding form, the underside carefully incised with a four-character mark, the stone brilliantly polished to a lustrous sheen. 20.9 cm (8 1/4 in) wide PROPERTY OF A PARISIAN COLLECTOR 巴黎藏家珍藏 十四至十七世紀 瑪瑙花式盤 PROVENANCE: Bonhams New York, 15 March, 2021, lot 61. 來源 紐約邦翰斯，2021年3月15日，編號61 Beautifully worked in a simple but fluid form, this striking dish highlights the material it was made from. Agate comes in many colours and variations and is treasured for its beautiful colouration and marking as well as the translucent, slightly limpid quality of the stone. It was worked in the same way and probably by the same craftsmen who also carved jade as Ming Wilson notes in Chinese Jade, London, 2004, p. 96. Agate was used in Chinese art from at least the Eastern Zhou dynasty onward when the colourful stone with its distinct banded and cloudy markings was used to fashion small rings and ornaments. From at least the Song dynasty, agate was used for cupstands and as small trays and cups, the forms often imitating those of ceramics and precious metalware. Undecorated, the vessels made of this beautifully coloured and polished stone would perfectly complement the lacquer or ceramic vessels they accompanied. See, for instance, a set of small agate bowls excavated in Xian and dated to the Tang dynasty, published in Jinhui yu de: Xian bowuyuan cang jin yinqi yuqi jingcui, Beijing, 2013, p. 148. Compare also with a Song dynasty agate mallow-shaped bowl and saucer, and a small agate foliate-shaped bowl, in the Palace Museum collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade. 5: Tang, Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, nos. 74 and 75. Compare also with a silver-mounted agate tea bowl stand, dated to the Song dynasty or later, sold in Christie's Paris, 13 June 2024, lot 137. After the Song dynasty, agate continued to be used for vessels and ornaments but it was under the Yongzheng emperor that agate was rediscovered and the archives of the imperial jade workshops record that the emperor ordered a number of agate brush washers and bowls to be made with out any decoration so that the original colour and pattern of the stone was highlighted. This exquisite dish with is pure form and wonderfully patterned and coloured stone reflects those qualities that have made agate a prized material in Chinese art from an early period on.