Kristina Kleutghen

Humanities Digital Workshop

The Local Exotic: Fabricating Foreign Taste in High Qing Court Decorative Arts

Chapter 4 – Flowering Stone: The Taste for India and the Islamic World

Flower-Shaped Bowl. 17th-18th century, Qianlong mark and period. Jade (nephrite), H. 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm); W. 7 5/16 in. (18.6 cm); D. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art. 50.145.113.

Complete text of poem:

痕都斯坦菊花椀

径一圍三尺有餘

水磨工異考工書

耳垂翻出雙苞綴

足砥紛承碎瓣舒

包貢却非来玉隴

通商恆是走渠胥

菊花依舊重陽節

合贈淵明五柳居

乾隆庚寅御题

[square seal] 比德

Kristina Kleutghen profile on GitHub

Project Kleutghen

Useful resources:

• National Palace Museum (Taipei)
  • Zoom in on a inscribed jade plate with gold tracery and red stones
  • Exquisite Beauty: Islamic Jades
  • Explore items from the Qing dynasty
  • Open Data

“Such offerings come to us not only as tribute from the Yulong River in Khotan, but also are brought back by merchants from distant India.”

–“On a Hindustan Jade Chrysanthemum Bowl” (Qianlong emperor, incised poem dated 1770 but published 1771)