PALE CELADON JADE 'MOTH AND SPANISH COIN' PAPERWEIGHT
QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
£1,071
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art
Auction: 3 November 2023 from 09:00 GMT
Description
清 青白玉雕飛蛾及西班牙銀元圖鎮紙
of near square form, the dome top carved in relief with a large moth spreading its wings, the flat reverse carved with one side of a Spanish coin, including a laureate and armoured bust of King Charles III of Spain, encircled by characters reading 'CAROLUS·III·DEI·GRATIA·1786', the stone of even pale celadon colour
Dimensions
4.3cm wide
Footnote
Note: It is extremely unusual to have Chinese jade carved with foreign currency, in this case a Spanish currency with a portrait of King Charles III of Spain (r. 1759-1788), which reflects the wide spread of Spanish coins in Qing China. During most of the Qing dynasty, period silver circulated in China in two forms, that of silver sycees and foreign silver dollars, primarily Spanish dollars from Spanish Philippines. Silver was used more in interregional trade and was more often used to pay for large transactions, furthermore it wasn't counted by denomination but by weight.
Under the reign of King Charles III, the design was changed as the Spanish coat-of-arms were superseded by his portrait. The Chinese referred to the Latin numeral "I" as "工" causing the silver coins of Charles III to be known as Sangong (三工). Additionally, the depiction of the reigning Spanish monarch inspired the Chinese people to refer to these Carolus dollars as Fotou Yang (佛頭洋, "Buddha-head dollar").