Page 104 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

五 53. Group of two recumbent deer, the stag looking back at the doe while he holds a branch of lingzhi fungus in his mouth, the female’s
十 mane of ruyi-head form, each with their feet neatly tucked underneath, the stone white.
三 4 ⅜ inches, 11.1 cm long.

Qianlong, 1736-1795.
雙 Wood stand.
鹿

白 • From an old estate in Pennsylvania, USA.
玉 • Another double-deer group with lingzhi branch is illustrated by Zhao Gui Ling in Compendium of Collections in the Palace

Museum, Jade, Vol. 9, Qing Dynasty, Gu Gong Inventory no. Gu 100141, no. 145, p. 157; another was included by Marchant in

乾 their 80th anniversary exhibition of Chinese Jades from Han to Qing, 2005, no. 70, pp. 72/3, where the exhibition also included
隆 a large deer and lingzhi group, described as the Alzaga-Unzue deer group, no. 79, pp. 86/7, also illustrated by Chen Hao in the

Zhejiang Provincial Museum exhibition of Jade Blossom, Imperial Xiuneisi Jade Objects and Ancient Jade Gems Collected by the Xu’s

of Cixi, Zhejiang, 2010, p. 202/3.

• It has been suggested that this piece is a brushrest. A similar crouching-deer and lingzhi group, described as a brushrest in the

Qing Court collection, is illustrated Yang Xin in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (I), no. 302,

p. 283; another double-deer brushrest is illustrated by Mei Ninghua & Tao Xincheng in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series,

Jades, no. 178, p. 164.

• The deer, lu, is a pun for an official’s salary and symbolises immortality as it is the companion of Shoulao, the god of longevity; it

lives for a long time and is the only animal capable of searching out the fungus of immortality, lingzhi. Two deer form the rebus

lulu shunli, ‘May all the roads be smooth’, as the word lu is also a pun for road.

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