Page 45 - Sotheby's Part I Collection of Sir Joeseph Hotung Collection CHINESE ART , Oct. 9, 2022

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ဏ ᖕ A JADE 'ANIMAL MASK' PENDANT, ׼ ර A YELLOW AND RUSSET JADE 'TIGER' TALLY,
ࠦ HAN DYNASTY ɤ ͗ MING DYNASTY, 15TH-16TH CENTURY
७ the flat plaque incised on both sides with a complex design, centred with an outline of a shield suggesting an archer's ring (she), ˜ worked in the shape of a crouching mythical beast, the tail and mane finely incised, the reverse incised with archaistic scrolls surrounding

〵 between an elaborate animal mask with prominent horns, large eyes with striated brows, and a stylised bird in profile, the translucent Ї ਄ a raised flange inscribed with the characters jian an ('health and tranquility'), the stone of a rich yellow colour with attractive russet
Җ jade of a pale celadon tone with russet streaks ɤ τ inclusions
4.6 by 3.5 by 1.8 cm
4.1 by 4.6 cm
͗ ʬ
PROVENANCE Ը๕j PROVENANCE Ը๕j
ʞ ™
भ R.H. Ellsworth Ltd, New York, 20th August 1986. τܠჃdॲߒd1986ϋ8˜20˚ ˰ ډ Christie's London, 12th May 2009, lot 6. ࡐ౱Գɻ੻2009ϋ5˜12˚dᇜ໮6
EXHIBITED ࢝ᚎj ߏ ୌ HK$ 30,000-50,000
British Museum, London, on loan, 1995.
ɽߵ௹ي᎜dࡐ౱d࠾࢝d1995ϋ ̸ US$ 3,850-6,400
LITERATURE
̈وj ̒
Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing,
London, 1995, pl. 20:4. ᖯಌdChinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing‘d The present tally, or hufu in Chinese, derives from a special two- could troops then be dispatched. As symbols of antiquity, these
ࡐ౱d1995ϋdྡو20:4 piece object that was used as a representation of authority or tallies were developed into individual archaistic objects as they lost
HK$ 40,000-60,000 identification in ancient China. The history of the tally can be traced their original functionality, of which the present is an example. In its
US$ 5,100-7,700 back to as early as the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), design, with its elegant profile silhouette and downturned head, this
when they were often made of bronze and in the form of tigers piece follows in the style of archaic animal-shaped pendants from
– and thus were given the name hufu (tiger tally). They had an the Warring States period (475-221 BC); see a pair in the Cleveland
important function in the early military system; the right piece was Museum of Art, illustrated in J. Keith Wilson, ‘A Pair of Chinese
always retained in the central government and strictly controlled Jade Plaques’, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 80,
by the emperor, and the left piece was carried by the local military no. 4 (April 1993), pp. 127-30, and illustrated on the cover and in fig.
officers or commanders. When military action was to be taken, the 1; and another yellow tiger tally inscribed with Pingding ('to pacify'),
emperor would send out his right piece to the corresponding local sold twice in these rooms, 29th April 1992, lot 663, and again 10th
officer, and only when the two pieces of a tiger tally were matched, July 2020, lot 141.
Inscription
თ˖

88 I FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUING ༉းྡ፽ʫ࢙ሗᓭᚎ SOTHEBYS.COM/HK1293 THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIR JOSEPH HOTUNG I 89