Page 102 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

五 52. Recumbent stag, lu, beside a dog, gou, the stag holding in its mouth a long branch of lingzhi fungus with an aster bloom and leaves,

十 its long horns resting on the lingzhi, the ears neatly folded with scrolls, stars on its body and hooves neatly tucked underneath, the dog

二 with long tail, its head and one paw raised, the stone pale celadon with white mottling and very slight russet markings.

4 ¼ inches. 10.8 cm long.
仙 Qianlong, 1736-1795.
鹿 Openwork wood stand carved with ruyi-head clouds.
靈

犬 • From the collection of Habib Sabet (1904-1990), purchased in the 1960s and thence by direct descent. Habib Sabet was one of

青 the most prominent Persian industrialists of the 20th century. He founded over 40 companies and introduced the first television
白 station to Iran in 1958, before leaving the country in 1975.
玉 • A stag, dog and lingzhi carving, from the collection of Mary Alexander Whitehouse, is illustrated by Robert Kleiner in Chinese

Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, no. 192, p. 243; another, with the stag holding a chrysanthemum branch

乾 in its mouth, dated to the Ming dynasty and similarly incised on the body with stars, is illustrated by Robert P. Youngman in
隆 The Youngman Collection, Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, no. 105, p. 105.

• The deer, lu, is a symbol of longevity and is the only animal capable of searching out the fungus of immortality, lingzhi. In

Habib Sabet Daoist mythology it accompanies Shoulao the god of longevity. The deer, lu, is a pun for ‘official salary’.

先
生
舊
藏

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