A BLACK AND BROWN JADE THUMBRING QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

of hollow cylindrical form, the straight sides undercut with four evenly spaced out circular panels enclosing the four characters Shegu hengyong ('Constantly helpful in hitting the target') between two friezes of leiwen and further filled-in with gold, the translucent grey and opaque black jade with some russet-brown skin

The thumbring is in good condition with the exception of rubbing to the gilding inside the carved design. The bottom end has a couple of small nicks along the edge.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The four characters incised on this ring in regular script read and may be translated as Shegu hengyong, 'Constantly helpful in hitting the target'.

Shegu hengyong is a phrase which appears in the poetry of the Qianlong emperor. It can be found on the inside of another Imperial archer's thumbring made of white jade, excavated in 1983 during works on the Zaojun Temple in the Haidian district of Beijing and now in the collection of the Haidian Museum.

Archer's thumbrings (she) have a history dating back to the Shang dynasty (1600-1100 BC) when they were generally made of bone or leather and were widely used to protect the thumb from the bow string when the arrow was discharged. Amongst the earliest excavated thumb-rings, many incised with animal mask decoration, were those found in the royal tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu, Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang, Beijing, 1980, pl. 83, figs. 1-3. By the Qing dynasty the function of thumbrings changed from being purely a practical object to being prized as a decorative showpiece. Qianlong himself had a vast collection of archer's rings and his fondness for them is expressed in over fifty poems that he wrote in their praise. Guo Fuxiang, in his work on the emperor's ring collection, notes that for Qianlong the small archer's ring symbolised a profound source of expertise and he regarded archery as the basic weaponry of the Manchu nation with the archer's ring the indispensable tool. Despite its small size, rings involved a high level of craftsmanship and Qianlong, as with many of his jade pieces, was personally involved in the quality control of their making. For a detailed discussion of Qianlong period archer's thumbrings see Guo Fuxiang, 'Qianlong's Imperial Jade Archer's Rings', By Heavenly Mandate, Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2007, pp. 24-27.