Page 185 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

James Basil Wilson二戰期間曾於廓爾喀軍團服役，1945年返回英 Hounds formed a central part of Qing Court hunting practices, keen
國。 1949年與Julia Burke結婚，婚後搬至倫敦，並開始為Iron and to maintain the Manchu traditions. The importance of the hounds to
Steel Exporters效力，同年被委任籌備香港辦事處，遂移居香港。事 the Qianlong emperor is clearly evident from the series of paintings
業發展蒸蒸日上的同時，Wilson伉儷也充分享受著外派人士的理想生 of favourite dogs commissioned from the Jesuit Court painter
活；游泳、打高爾夫、結交朋友，沉迷賽車運動甚至參加業餘車手街 Giuseppe Castiglione, and in the later ten-leaf album painted by
道賽，Julia聲稱曾完賽首屆澳門格蘭披治大賽車。在保留西方生活方 Ignaz Sichelbarth, circa 1745-1758; see two paintings by Castiglione
式的同時，Wilson伉儷也對中國及其民眾、美食和藝術產生了長久的 depicting recumbent hounds, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
熱情。 1957年，隨著家庭的不斷壯大，Wilson一家回到英國，並帶 nos.GuHua00373400000 and GuHua00374000000; and Ten Fine
回了其在香港購置的藝術品。此後，James多次前往香港，並在接下 Dogs, a ten-leaf album in the Qing Court Collection by Sichelbarth,
來的幾十年中持續造訪倫敦的古董商，擴充藏品。 painted after Castiglione, illustrated by E.S.Rawski and J.Rawson,
eds., China: The Three Emperors 1662 - 1795, London, 2005,
Jade carvings of dogs, generally depicted in a recumbent posture, pp.188-189, no.84.
were made from the Tang dynasty onwards but are seldom found in
such exceptionally large size as the present lot. Furthermore, the importance of hounds in Qing Court culture
manifested itself not just in jade carvings and painitngs, but also
Dogs were long valued for their fidelity and alertness. The dog first in ceramics. See for example, a green-glazed model of a hound,
appears in Chinese art as the hound of the hunt, becoming next the 18th century, in a pose very similar to Castiglione’s portrayal of a
ferocious dog of war, and lastly the fearless guardian of the Palace dog named ‘Sudden-flight Magpie’, illustrated in Portrayals from a
and the Temple. It was common practice for pottery models of dogs Brush Divine: A Special Exhibition on the Tricentennial of Giuseppe
to be buried during the Han dynasty, in the belief that they would Castiglione’s Arrival in China, Taipei, 2015, pp.238-239, no.V-22.
keep the deceased master’s company in the afterlife. This motif was This suggests the possibility that the production of such ‘portraiture
later revived in the Yuan period and continued in a mannered and porcelain’ of dogs was connected to Western missionaries in the 18th
simplified form into the Ming and Qing dynasties. Jade carvings such century.
as the present lot may have been owned by those who wished to
be known for their hunting skills, an activity that was associated with
rank and status. Compare with a related pale green and russet jade
crouching hound, Song dynasty, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese
Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.366, pl.26:10;
and another example of a pale green and russet jade hound but in a
sitting posture, Qing dynasty, illustrated in The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware III, Shanghai, 1995,
no.86.

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