Auction introduction: Nicolas Chow The Qianlong Emperor was an avid collector of archaic jades, as they were believed to embody the virtue of the ancients, and particularly discs known as bi, as they symbolized Heaven. He devoted time to their study, when inspired wrote poems extolling their virtues and sometimes had them mounted in precious zitan wood frames so that they could adorn his halls and studies. The medieval jade bi carved with dragons and phoenixes and mounted on a superb zitan stand in this collection ranks among the finest such examples to survive. Not only did the Emperor collect jade discs from the past, he also occasionally had bi discs carved. The spectacular massive jade bi in this collection and its magnificently cast bronze stand would have once stood outside an important hall within the Forbidden City, carefully positioned on its central axis. The only other jade disc of this size, cut and polished from the very same stone and mounted on a bronze stand in the same style, still stands today facing the all important Yangxindian (the Hall of Mental Cultivation) where the Emperor spent much of his time at the court. The importance of this massive ceremonial jade bi cannot be overstated. The other rare treasures in the collection – an archaistic ritual jade gui tablet carved out of the purest white jade, a superbly crafted bronze bookstand that may have once held a Confucian classic in an Imperial study in the Yangxindian, a baroque meditation chair made out of wild organic rootwood among others – all attest to the Qing emperors’ quest for political legitimacy, patronage of the arts and self-cultivation. This selection of works of art also comes as a testament to the exceptional eye of an aesthete whose lifelong mission it has been to chase the rarest and most remarkable Imperial works of art.