My dad, an architect, did some work for a Chinese art dealer back in the early 90's. From what my dad has told me, the man received this piece of jade, along with many other pieces, from a temple that his parents bought (was not aware that you could buy temples). We believe it to be a table screen from the Qi (or Qing?) dynasty. I posted this on /r/whatisthisthing last night but no one seems to be able to figure it out. I'm curious about the writing and the drawings on it. Please let me know if you need better quality photos.
The piece is about 6x8 inches
UPDATE: The name of the client was Jan Tom Wong. He was on the board of the directors of the Art Institute of Chicago. Died in 2011. I know this doesn't mean anything, but I'm just updating with info I find out.
Hi, I'm an appraiser specializing in Chinese jade works of art. u/American_pig gave a great explanation of the artistic motifs present. I'd also like to point out the dragon figure on the bottom is chasing a flaming pearl, which is a symbol for the pursuit of knowledge Check out Terese Tse Bartholomew's Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art for a good reference to the different symbolic interpretations of common art motifs.
Age wise there is a technique used on this piece that gives a pretty clear indication of its age. Do you see the rough white texture that is in the background of the image and surrounding the characters on the other side? That appears to be the texture created by an acid burn. This technique became popular in the 1970s as a method of making pieces appear older than they are. They are attempting to imitate the alteration that occurs due to burial. Here is one example on ebay that is attempting to imitate an old piece with an acid burn. Here's another example. Here is an example sold at Sotheby's of actual "alteration" due to long term burial.
That being said, the process of "alteration" or what used to be called "calcification" is not well understood. It can be imitated by other methods but acid burning is the easiest to identify and the least convincing. Therefore, in my opinion this is a modern carving most likely dating to the second half of the twentieth century. The material appears to be nephrite jade that may have been stained in addition to being burned with acid. If you have any specific questions on this piece I'd be happy to answer them.
This is a depiction of the 8 immortals of Taoist mythology, a common subject in Chinese art. Whether it's an authentic Qing piece or not I can't say from the pictures -- contemporary Chinese craftsmen are expert at constructing convincing replicas of antiques.
I can only make out a few words in the beginning and the end.
It starts with a title "The [something illegible] Temple of the Eight Immortals" [ ][ ]八仙殿
It ends with the date. The [something illegible] year of DaHan. 大汉[ ]年
I am not personally aware of any emperor with DaHan as his Era Name, except one rebel leader who decided to call himself king in 1215. He was killed by Genghis Khan shortly after; and I doubt anyone would have used his Era name on a tablet.. Actually, the Eight Immortals did not become known as such until well after Genghis Khan time. The date inscribed is not making much sense to me, but I defer to greater knowledge of others here.
The rest of the inscription seems to be a praise of the virtue of kindness.
/r/ArtHistory may have some answers.
I don't think we were stumped at /r/whatisthisthing. We concluded that it was a fake. Sorry you didn't want to hear that.
/r/translation may be able to aid you with the writing on the back.
Is it possible to take a better picture of the text?
I dont think this is real jade. My family owns several pieces of various jade items. I have never seen such coloration of jade before. Perhaps the jade has been altered in some way, but real jade would not look like that. Although it is an interesting piece.