Page 195 - Bonhams May 12 16 London

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A PALE GREEN AND RUSSET JADE CARVING OF AN
ELEPHANT AND BOYS
Qianlong
Crisply carved as a charmingly-wrinkled elephant with its head
turned to the left, covered with a tasselled saddle-cloth incised with
auspicious bats above crashing waves and lingzhi fungus, a young boy
with jovial expression clambering on his back clutching a lingzhi stem
while another boy carrying a branch kneels beside the elephant’s head,
the stone with russet inclusions, with box.
8cm (3 1/8in) long (2).

£6,000 - 8,000 CNY55,000 - 73,000
HK$66,000 - 88,000

清乾隆 青白玉帶皮童子騎象擺件 164

A boy riding on an elephant, jixiang (騎象), is a pun for the blessing of
‘good fortune’, jixiang (吉祥).

A pale green and russet jade carving of elephant and boys is illustrated
by R.Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone
Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no.170 and subsequently sold at
Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1562. See also a white
jade carving of an elephant and boys, Qianlong period, which sold at
Christie’s London, 14 May 2013, lot 81. See also a similar 18th century
pale green jade carving of elephant and boys which sold in our rooms,
8 November 2012, lot 5, and also 15 May 2014, lot 149.