A Chinese pale jade Mughal-style 'chrysanthemum' bowl 

Qing dynasty, Qianlong period 

The bowl thinly carved with gently rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the exterior carved overall as a multitude of narrow lappets rising from concentric rows of petals encircling the disc florets to the interior, mirrored to the exterior to form the foot, the stone of a pale celadon, whitish hue, with some cloudy inclusions.

15.5cm diameter.

Provenance: Gifted by Stella MacDonald, daughter of Sir Claude MacDonald (1852-1915), to the parents of the present owner in the 1950s. Sir Claude MacDonald led the defence of the foreign legations in 1900 which were under siege during the Boxer Rebellion.

清乾隆 青玉雕莫臥兒式菊瓣式盌

來源：由Claude MacDonald (1852-1915)爵士之女Stella MacDonald於1950年代贈予現藏家父母。Claude MacDonald曾帶領外國防禦軍抵抗義和團運動。

Beautiful and colourful, the chrysanthemum flower generally represents autumn. As it blooms in autumn when all other flowers are fading away, it symbolises the ability to withstand adversity. It is tranquil and harmonious with others, but also dignified and indomitable.

The multi-layered nature of its delicate petals make it a particularly technically challenging, yet desirable, form to achieve with jade or porcelain carving. The type of carving on the present lot, with several rows of narrow lappets, can be found on a number of Mughal-style jade carvings.

Cf. a large green jade dish (25.4 cm) carved in similar fashion, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Jadeware III, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 246, no. 201, where it is dated to the Qing dynasty. A slightly smaller example, dated to the Qianlong period, was sold by Christies, London, 5 December 2012, lot 6277.

This form of dishes, but without the central disc florets, was also popular in monochrome porcelain during the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns.