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Victoria and Albert Museum, jointly organized by that Museum and
the Oriental Ceramic Society, exhibited several large jade carvings
of buffaloes and horses, belonging to collectors who were inspired
to begin collecting jade – as well as other Chinese art – at this time. been the Permanent British Representative at the United Nations and
Several buffaloes were also exhibited at the V&A including one from
the Fitzwilliam Museum, length 43.2cm, and another at 29.9cm, now
known to have belonged to the Hon. Mary Anna Marten. There were
also five horses, purportedly belonging to this same monumental
group, exhibited with the buffaloes.
Oscar Raphael’s buffalo is comparable to the Atterbury example.
Raphael was one of the great jade collectors of the early 20th
century. He was the fourth and youngest son of a wealthy bullion
merchant and, according to his obituary in the Times, he was a
collector from childhood, a fine shot and a keen sportsman. Raphael
believed strongly that the British Museum did not have enough early
jade material, particularly jades of the Neolithic, Shang and Zhou
periods (up to BC221). He subsequently bequeathed most of his
early jades to the British Museum but because of a strong tie to
Cambridge (he had an honorary degree from Cambridge) left his later
jades to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge including this buffalo.
The Raphael buffalo had been previously exhibited in the international
exhibition at Burlington House in 1935 (no.480) and the catalogue
of this exhibition repeated a story associated with this beast which
was of its having been brought to Beijing and installed at court in the Kong, April 2010, lot 1909, which had belonged to the Hall family
time of the emperor Yongle (1403-1424) as a precious relic from the
Han dynasty. By the time of the 1975 exhibition this was no longer
accepted and a late Ming date was the earliest that most authorities
were willing to assign it. J.Goette in Jade Lore, London, 1937, p.199,
said the Raphael/Fitzwilliam buffalo was purchased in Tianjin, when
the foreign troops were leaving China following the Boxer rebellion of
1900 and could therefore be assumed to have come from the Palace.
This buffalo is an unusually fierce looking animal with a somewhat
menacing or bad-tempered air to it in contrast to the other rather
supercilious and more docile buffaloes of this large size including the Leona Helmsley’s 38cm long dark green buffalo was sold by
Atterbury example.
The Fitzwilliam Museum also has three other rather different jade
buffaloes in its collection. One is a haughty looking green one, dated
to the late Ming, length 27.5cm; another is a more brown-green
colour, length 17cm and dated to the late Ming to early Qing and
the third is a very pale light celadon green animal, dated to the 18th
century, length 12.6cm.
There are several other large buffalos that belong to this group of
large buffaloes, which were not exhibited in the V&A 1975 exhibition.
One such jade is the monumental carving of a buffalo belonging to
the jade collection formed by Sir Joseph Hotung (length 37.3cm). D.
L. Goldschmidt writing about this buffalo in her book Chinese Art,
Bronzes, Jade, Sculpture, Ceramics, New York, 1966, said that the
buffalo motif was a recurring theme in Chinese art, one portrayed
in archaic bronzes, sculpture and painting as well as the ceramic
art where the animal was often shown as a mount for Shoulao, the
god of Longevity. It has been reported that this jade buffalo was
taken from the Summer Palace during its sacking in 1860 and then
brought back to England on board ship. During the voyage two
sailors are said to have argued over to whom it really belonged
and it was dropped and one of the buffalo’s horns was broken off.
Subsequently this broken horn was replaced with a bronze one
182 | BONHAMS
which gives this carving a very impressive and particularly distinctive
air. The buffalo was bought in the UK by Colonel Arthur Jebb of the
East Surrey Regiment and then the Rt. Hon. Lord Gladwyn, who had
Ambassador to Paris, and an outstanding diplomat of his generation.
It was acquired by the Hotung collection in 1980.
he buffalo from the Somerset de Chair collection which was also on
exhibition in the V&A in 1975 and which he had bought at Sotheby’s
in 1952, was dated to the late Ming, early Qing and measured
36.5cm in length. The size of the grey and black jade boulder was
skilfully selected to represent the natural colours of the water buffalo.
Jade of such quality would have been delivered to the emperor’s
workshops, where during the Qianlong reign we know that he was
offered first refusal of all the jade found. The distinctive black and
grey colouring is very similar to the Hotung buffalo and several horses
of this period, and perhaps specially selected to resemble better the
actual animals’ skin.
Another monumental buffalo is in the Metropolitan museum, length
41.3cm long. Its great bulk is relaxed, its horns benign, the snout
and mouth resigned, and it has a lazy look on its friendly looking face
despite its potential strength. It was also traditionally dated to the
17th century and was the gift of Mrs Edward S. Harkness, in 1936.
Yet another large buffalo, 28cm long, was sold by Sotheby’s in Hong
since the 1950s. It also has grey green colouring like the Hotung
buffalo.
The V&A has a very large buffalo, again traditionally dated to the 17th
century, its length 38cm; It looks straight ahead at you and has a star
emblazoned on its forehead between the two horns and centred over
the eyes, as does the Atterbury matching the de Chair and Hotung
ones.
Christie’s on 19th March, 2008, lot 436 The jade buffalo, dated to
the 17th/18th century, lies with its feet tucked under its body, but the
ridged horns had been shortened sometime after it was originally
worked. It had previously belonged to Mrs. James Cromwell.
The De An Tang collection, Hong Kong, has a large buffalo, in grass-
green jade, length 32cm, lying on the ground with its head turned
looking straight ahead, his ears cocked as if listening to sounds in
the distance. His legs are tucked under him and the dewlap is well
depicted. This buffalo is also traditionally dated to the Ming, and
was previously in the Bulgari collection, sold by Eskenazi and then
at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2000, lot 126. See Yang Boda, A
Romance with Jade: from the De An Tang collection, Beijing, 2004,
no.73.
The De An collection has three further buffaloes in its collection
in addition to the large one mentioned above. One is a white jade
buffalo, length 13.5cm, another a grey-green one length 22cm; yet
another is 20cm long and the last is a 18cm long depiction of a boy
cowherd tending a buffalo in a white brown colours, and is dated
to the Qing. See ibid., no. 71, 72, 74, 79. All are dated to the Qing
dynasty.