AN IMPORTANT CHINESE JADE EWER & LID, FOR MUGHAL MARKET QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795) 18TH CENTURY The elongated rounded body rising from a short foot, carved in low relief with flowering blossoms and meandering stems, the rim with a band of leaves, the straight spout with a chevron pattern emerging from leaves, the associated lid with a band of leaves and a lotus-bud finial rising from a rosette. Provenance: The H Collection, Important European Private Collection  Provenance: CHRISTIES LOT 78, MARCH 2022 ISLAMIC SALE, ESTIMATE £30,000-£50,000 GBP  Height: 14cm  Length: 16.5cm  This elegant jade wine ewer is of a rare but known form. The Mughal Empire in India (1526-1857) left a legacy of high-quality worked jades. The Qianlong emperor greatly admired the so-called `Hindustan` jades, and in 1768, he wrote the Tianzhu wuyindu kaoe, a scholarly text on the geography of Hindustan and the derivation of its name. The area he identified was in what is today India, with the city of Agra at its centre. During the eighteenth century, this area was part of the Mughal Empire and thus the jades from this region are today often referred to as `Mughal` jades. The decoration of the present vessel may have been inspired by Emperor Jahangir`s visit to the beautiful flower-filled valleys of Kashmir in 1620, which prompted the introduction of a new style of drawing on botanical designs. Compare with a related jade ewer, 17th/18th century, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Exquisite Beauty - Islamic Jades, Taipei, 2007, pl.96. A related white jade wine flask, India, 18th century, was sold at Christie`s London, 8 October 2015, lot 143.