Page 118 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

六 61. Recumbent crane with its head turned back, holding in its long pointed beak a branch of two fruiting peaches, its folded wings and

十 curled tail with detailed feather work, the feet and long legs neatly folded under the body, the stone pale celadon.

一 3 ⅛ inches, 8 cm long.

Qianlong, 1736-1795.
仙

鶴 • From an important Dutch private collection.
銜 • A similar group is illustrated by Gerard Tsang in Chinese Jade Animals, an exhibition presented by the Urban Council Hong
桃 Kong and organised by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1996, no. 179, pp. 186/7, and illustrated by Laurence C. S. Tam in

青 Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, an exhibition jointly presented by the Urban Council Hong Kong and the Min Chiu Society,
白 organized by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1992, no. 240, p. 376; a further example, in the Qing Court Collection, is
玉 illustrated by Zhang Guang Wen in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (III), Vol. 42, no. 80,

p. 100; another was included by Marchant in their 85th anniversary exhibition of Chinese Jades from Han to Qing, 2005, no. 75,

乾 p. 80; yet another is illustrated by Roger Keverne in the Spink & Son exhibition, Chinese Jade, An Important Private Collection,
隆 1991, no. 153, pp. 74/5.

• Crane, he, and peaches, tao, form the rebus heshou yannian, ‘May the crane and peaches extend your years’, both the crane and

peach symbolize longevity.

116