Page 62 - Studio of the Clear Garden Chinese ceramics NYC Mar 2018

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A SMALL PALE GREY AND BROWN JADE FIGURE OF
ZHOU YANZI
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
The boy, Zhou Yanzi, is shown holding a bucket as he crouches beneath a deer
skin that is draped over his back and head. The deer skin is highlighted in dark
brown and is carved with star markings as well as detailed with the head and
the antlers.
1æ in. (4.5 cm.) high

$4,000-6,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1950s, and thence by descent within the family.
The Studio of the Clear Garden.
Jade carvings of Zhou Yanzi represent flial piety. This is based on a Chinese
folk tale of a boy named Zhou Yanzi who draped himself with a deer skin in
order to join a deer herd and obtain milk for his ailing father.
A related jade fgure of Zhou Yanzi is illustrated in Post-Archaic Chinese Jades
from Private Collections, S. Marchant and Son, London, 2000, no. 31, and
another was sold at Christie’s London, 11 May 2015, lot 20. (another view)
明 灰褐玉雕鹿乳奉親圖把件

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