Page 92 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC

26 㶭 曺 A BEIGE JADE ‘DRAGON’
䌱
⇅ġġġ
晽 BOULDER
崽 EARLY QING DYNASTY
䎈
暚 carved in the round as a mountainous landscape enveloped in
漵 cloud scrolls rising above turbulent waters, one side carved with
䲳 a ferocious dragon emerging from the waves pursuing a ‘Flaming
Ⱉ Pearl’, a large sun or moon behind the clouds, the beige stone
⫸ with icy inclusions and ß ecked with russet along the edges and
the reverse, wood stand (2)

Length 4¾ in., 12.1 cm

PROVENANCE Ը๕
Property of a gentlemen. 䥩Ṣ㓞啷
Sotheby’s London, 6th November 1973, lot 305. ΐ㔎喯⭴㭼IJĺĸĴ⸜IJIJ㚰ķ㖍炻䶐嘇ĴıĶ
Spink & Son, London, 23rd December 1981. ŔűŪůŬġħġŔŰů炻ΐ㔎炻IJĺĹIJ⸜IJij㚰ijĴ㖍
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016)
ἃ伭ΐ㕗ġĩIJĺijıĮijıIJĹĪġ⍲崓ỗ䈡ġĩIJĺIJĸĮijıIJķĪɀ
Irving, no. 378.
㫸暚ằ⃟㓞啷炻䶐嘇ĴĸĹ
࢝ᚎ
EXHIBITED
An Exhibition of Fine Jade, Spink & Son, London, 1981, cat. no. 19. ˪łůġņŹũŪţŪŵŪŰůġŰŧġŇŪůŦġŋŢťŦ˫炻ŔűŪůŬġħġŔŰů炻
Although dragons were often featured on gifts to court o$ cials, ΐ㔎炻IJĺĹIJ⸜炻䶐嘇IJĺ
it is relatively rare for a boulder to depict a dragon. The present
scene may illustrate a carp that has reached the gates of
Longmen and transformed into a dragon, representing a student
who has passed the imperial examinations to become a scholar-
o$ cial. A yellow jade boulder carved with a large sun or moon
at the center, and with a dragon amidst waves, sold in our Hong
Kong rooms, 8th April 2010, lot 1908. See also a celadon jade
carving of a sun or moon enveloped in cloud wisps, carved in a
similar manner to the present piece, sold at Christie’s New York,
30th March 2005, lot 105.
$ 15,000-25,000

90 SOTHEBY’S