Page 74 - Sotheby's Part I Collection of Sir Joeseph Hotung Collection CHINESE ART , Oct. 9, 2022

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ਠ ͗ A MINIATURE JADE CARVING OF A 'BOTTLE HORN', ׼ ڡ A CELADON AND BLACK JADE PEBBLE OF A BIRD OF PREY,
א ፿ SHANG DYNASTY OR LATER ϲ MING DYNASTY
˸ Җ modelled in a form with a tapered shaft terminating in a small bud, resembling a bottled horn of a mythical beast, minimally incised in ͗ the triangular pebble carved in the round as a bird of prey looking to its left, its talons tucked neatly up to its chest, its wings accentuated
ܝ ኜ double lines suggesting two partially overlapping petals above a subtle ridge, the base perforated, the stone of a caramel brown colour ᎉ with well-defined plumage, pierced with an aperture below its short curved beak
2.6 cm 4.5 cm
㏿
PROVENANCE Ը๕j ௢ PROVENANCE Ը๕j
Christie's New York, 29th/30th November 1984, lot 411. ॲߒԳɻ੻1984ϋ11˜29-30˚dᇜ໮411 An English private collection, acquired prior to 1985. ߵ਷ӷɛϗᔛd1985ϋۃɝᔛ
Acquired in London, 15th May 2009.
EXHIBITED ࢝ᚎj 2009ϋ5˜15˚ᒅ׵ࡐ౱
British Museum, London, on loan, 1995. HK$ 80,000-120,000
ɽߵ௹ي᎜dࡐ౱d࠾࢝d1995ϋ
LITERATURE US$ 10,200-15,300
̈وj
Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing,
London, 1995, pl. 12:6. ᖯಌdChinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing‘d
ࡐ౱d1995ϋdྡو12:6
HK$ 10,000-15,000
US$ 1,300-1,950
Dainty in size, the present piece appears to be an attachment to a
larger work, possibly made in material other than jade, as suggested
by Jessica Rawson (ibid, p. 213). A comparable jade carving of this
form but incised with short, parallel lines, was discovered in the late
Shang capital of Anyang; for a line drawing, see '1975 nian Anyang
Yinxu de xin faxian [New discoveries in Yinxu, Anyang, 1975]',
Archaeology, 1976, no. 4, pp. 263-272, p. 269, fig. 11, no. 6. Compare
the chevron- and scroll-decorated horns on the 'mask' cover of a
Shang dynasty he vessel, reputedly excavated from Anyang, now in
the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC,
accession no. F1942.1a-b.

146 I FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUING ༉းྡ፽ʫ࢙ሗᓭᚎ SOTHEBYS.COM/HK1293 THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIR JOSEPH HOTUNG I 147