Stunning thumb ring carved from a piece of pure white mutton-fat jade. It is decorated in great detail with a reclining fat gentleman who is being served by boys cooking water from a stream. In 1993 we ran into a gentleman on the Dong Tai Lu, the famous 'antiques' market in Shanghai who pulled this ring out of his pocket. We were stunned by the beautiful carving and the purity of the white jade and we were immediately convinced that this was a piece dating from the most famous era of jade carving, the Qianlong period (1735 - 1796). After some haggling we agreed on a price and the ring became ours. Great was our astonishment when that same evening we visited a jade carving studio and met the same gentleman who had sold the ring to us. He appeared to be the owner of the jade carving studio. We bought some more jades from him that evening (Quick Find 2642 & 6855) which were of equal quality. Only years later we found out that the gentleman whom we met in 1993, had been the famous jade carving master Ni Wei Bin. And then we realized that our stunning ring must have been made by him as well. Much to our regret, jade of this white purity makes it almost impossible to photograph the fine details of the carving. Diameter 3.2 cm. Height 2.4 cm. Weight 30.7 grams.