Page 114 - Bonhams May 16, 2019 London Asian Art

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A VERY RARE WHITE JADE CARVING OF A MYTHICAL HORSE
CARRYING SCROLLS, LONGMA
Qianlong
Crisply carved as a mythical horse flying above crested waves with
a spiralling base, the horse’s head with finely incised mane, almond-
shaped eyes and flaring nostrils, the horse turned back sharply, a
bundle of scrolls tied together with a long billowing ribbon clasped
in its mouth, the stone of pale white tone with a slight yellowish tinge
on the face, wood stand and box.
8.3cm (3 1/4in) high. (3).

£40,000 - 60,000
CNY350,000 - 530,000

清乾隆 白玉雕龍馬負書擺件

Provenance: Sotheby’s London, 13 November 1972, lot 14
William Clayton Ltd., London, 3 January 1973
An English private collection
S.Marchant & Son Ltd., London, Recent Acquisitions 2009, no.58
Lowenthal Collection, no.63

來源：倫敦蘇富比，1972年11月13日，拍品編號14
1973年1月3日，倫敦William Clayton Ltd.
英國私人收藏
2009年購於倫敦S.Marchant & Son Ltd.，”Recent Acquisitions”，
編號58
Lowenthal藏品，编號63

The longma (龍馬), literally ‘dragon horse’, is an auspicious creature
that according to legend emerged from the Luo River revealing itself
to Fuxi, the first of the three legendary sovereigns of ancient China.
The markings on the creature’s back inspired Fuxi to invent the
Eight Trigrams, which led to the invention of writing and calligraphy,
represented by the scrolls on the creature’s back. The Han dynasty
scholar Kong Anguo (156-74 BC) wrote that ‘its shape consists of
a horse’s body, yet it has dragon scales...and walks upon the water
without sinking’. See M.W.de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan,
Amsterdam, 1913, p.58.

The present beast is modelled to appear like a horse, and is very
similar in style to the mythical creature found on a well-known group
of Yongzheng mark and period doucai porcelain dishes, such as
the one in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated in The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in
Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Beijing, 1999, p.238, no.218.

For a similar pale green jade example of a longma carrying books
across waves, 18th century, see R.Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the
Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl.193,
which was later sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot
1507. A related jade carving of a mythical horse carrying books on its
back while crossing the sea, Mid Qing dynasty, from the Qing Court
Collection, is also illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in
the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, p.110, no.90.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
112 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.