Page 96 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

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A GREY JADE CARVING OF AN ELEPHANT
17th century
10.2cm (4in) long.

十七世紀 灰玉雕象

Provenance:
K.C. Wong (1907-1986)
Bluett & Sons Ltd., London
R.H.R Palmer (1898-1970), acquired from the above in February 1937,
Collection no.133

Published and Exhibited:
Bluett & Sons Ltd., The Wong Collection of Ancient Chinese Jades,
London, 1930, no.499
The Arts Council of Great Britain and The Oriental Ceramic Society,
The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1957, no.357
The Arts Council of Great Britain and The Oriental Ceramic Society,
Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, London, 1975, no.363

來源：
K.C. Wong舊藏（1907-1986）
倫敦古董商Bluett & Son Ltd.
R.H.R Palmer（1898-1970）於1937年2月購自上者，典藏編號133

展覽著錄：
Bluett & Sons Ltd.，《The Wong Collection of Ancient Chinese
Jades》，倫敦，1930年，編號499
英國藝術委員會與倫敦東方陶瓷學會，《The Arts of the Ming
Dynasty》，倫敦，1975年，編號357
英國藝術委員會與倫敦東方陶瓷學會，《Chinese Jade Throughout
the Ages》，倫敦，1975年，編號363

The subject matter of elephants has many layers of meaning. The term
for elephant in Chinese (xiang 象) is a homophone for ‘auspicious’ (xiang
祥). Sometimes, elephants are carved with boys riding or cleaning them,
which adds further layers of meaning because to ‘Ride an elephant’
(qi xiang 騎象), has a similar pronunciation as ji xiang (吉祥), meaning
‘Good fortune’. Furthermore, boys cleaning or ‘washing the elephant’
(sao xiang 掃象), forms a rebus for ‘Sweeping away the phenomena of
the outside world’, which are thought to be mere illusions. Furthermore,
the elephant is one of the auspicious symbols of Buddhism - an
attribute of royalty, associated with Puxian, the Bodhisattva of Universal
Benevolence, and the personification of Perfect Activity and Happiness,
who is often shown seated on a white elephant.

94 | BONHAMS