Page 190 - Bonhams May 12 16 London
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The exceptional massive jade water buffalo can be traced back as Though the provenance of the present lot prior to its documented
early as 1949, when it was sold by E.W.L.Atterbury. Already at that sale E.W.L.Atterbury in 1949 is unknown, it is very likely that it once
time it was recognised as ‘magnificent’ and ‘important’, words which graced one of the imperial palaces based on the provenance of
were sparsely used in those days. similar beasts known to have adorned the imperial palaces. The large
green jade buffalo bequeathed by the renowned early 20th century
Large jade carvings of water buffalos were highly sought after by some collector Oscar Raphael (1874-1941) to the Fitzwilliam Museum in
of the most important collectors of jade and museums, such as the Cambridge, was noted in the exhibition catalogue Chinese Applied Art,
one bequeathed by Oscar Raphael in 1941 to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Manchester, 1913, no.122, pl.III, to have been ‘taken at the sack of the
Cambridge; the Colonel Arthur Jebb buffalo, now in the collection of Summer Palace’; the museum further noted the following provenance
Sir Joseph Hotung; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York jade for another large jade buffalo also bequeathed by Oscar Raphael:
buffalo, gifted in 1936; and the Lionel de Rothschild buffalo, now in the
Woolf Charitable Trust and on exhibit in the British Museum, London. ‘This buffalo is one of the largest carved Chinese jades in a British
collection. Until 1900 it adorned a corridor of the Winter Palace at
The imposing recumbent beast conveys at once both strength and Beijing, along with a black and grey jade horse and a white jade
peacefulness. The sheer size and weight of the jade stone, the dragon-horse, both also now in the Fitzwilliam. After the Boxer
muscular haunch, full rounded body, high back and the striking ribbed Uprising, 1898 - 1900, when the Chinese violently rebelled against
horns exude power; the recumbent poise and countenance convey the Western presence and influence in their country, the three animals
tranquillity. were removed from the palace and sold. They ended up in the
collection of Oscar Raphael who bequeathed them to the Fitzwilliam
The masterful carving from a single block of the richly-toned prized in 1941’; see J.C.S.Lin, The Immortal Stone: Chinese jades from the
jade, is evident in the deceivingly simple and elegant form, yet highly Neolithic period to the twentieth century, Cambridge, 2009, nos.36
detailed in its naturalistic contours, the rippling ribbed horns, finely and 35 respectively.
delineated forelock, undulating dewlap and well detailed legs.
