Page 157 - SOtheby's Hong Kong Fine Chinese Art May 2018

597

A CELADON JADE FIGURE OF A PIG
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY

modelled as a stylised recumbent pig with defined details, the
stone with calcified areas
9.7 cm, 3⅞ in.
PROVENANCE
Christie’s London, 12th June 1989, lot 77 (one of a pair).
597
HK$ 30,000-50,000 Two Views
兩面
US$ 3,850-6,400
西漢 玉豬

來源：
倫敦佳士得1989年6月12日，編號77（一對之一）

598

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE JAPANESE COLLECTION
A PALE BROWN JADE FIGURE OF A RABBIT
SONG DYNASTY OR EARLIER
carved crouching with its head tucked in between its forelegs,
detailed with raised hindquarters and straight-up ears,
pierced on the side to thread a string, the calcified stone of
an attractive golden-brown colour, finely worked to a smooth
polish
4.5 cm, 1¾ in.
HK$ 70,000-90,000
US$ 9,000-11,500

宋或更早 雞骨白玉兔
598
Two Views
兩面 Small carvings of hares and rabbits are known from as early
as the Han and Tang dynasties, such as one included in the
exhibition Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong Museum of
Art, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. no. 39; and another in the British
Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade
from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pl. 26:9, where
the author notes that ‘the relatively large numbers of hares
suggests that they were especially favoured, perhaps because
the hare was associated with the moon, where it was said to
pound the elixir of immortality’, p. 365.
A further similar carving in the Museum of East Asian Art,
Bath, is illustrated in Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney,
Jades from China, Bath, 1994, pl. 210; another is published in
Zhongguo meishu quanji. Yuqi [Complete collection of Chinese
Art. Jade], vol. 9, Beijing, 1991, pl. 246; compare also two jade
rabbits sold in these rooms, 8th October 2010, lot 281 and 1st
December 2016. lot 32, from the Muwen Tang collection.

CHINESE ART 155