Page 178 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

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A RARE JADE FIGURE OF AN 清乾隆 糖玉臥象
ELEPHANT 《乾隆年製》款

SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF
來源：
QIANLONG 德國私人收藏，1922年前入藏，此後家族傳承
巴黎蘇富比2014年12月11日，編號161
the substantial stone worked in the form of a recumbent
elephant with its head turned to the left and its tail swished to
its left haunch, the animal depicted with characteristic floppy
ears and folds of wrinkles, the underside incised with a four-
character seal mark, the stone of a variegated celadon, brown
and grey colour accentuated with white patches, yellow label
12.6 cm, 4⅞ in.

PROVENANCE
A German private collection, acquired before 1922, thence by
descent.
Sotheby’s Paris, 11th December 2014, lot 161.
HK$ 1,200,000-1,500,000
US$ 154,000-192,000

This charming figure of a reclining elephant captures the also a green and russet jade figure of a standing elephant with
innate strength and tranquillity associated with the creature head turned and fashioned in a similar style, from the Woolf
in China. Modelled in the round with its head turned to the left collection, included in the exhibition Later Chinese Jades,
and resting on top of its curling trunk, a sense of sweetness Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1995, cat.
and tenderness is indicated by the smiling eyes and gentle no. 6, and published in The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade,
smile and further accentuated through the masterfully London, 2013, pl. 97. For a Song dynasty prototype, compare
rendered ripples of skin around the neck and legs. Further a figure of a reclining elephant included in the exhibition
evidence of the craftsman’s proficiency in the medium is Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong
evident in the exquisitely modelled ears, which have been Kong, 1996, cat. no. 100.
skilfully hollowed to give a naturalistic impression of large
The elephant is traditionally an auspicious animal symbolic of
folded flaps of thick skin.
peace and strength. In Buddhism a grey elephant represents
Captured in an archaistic Song style in both carving and the uncontrolled mind of a person at the beginning of their
selection of stone, Qianlong period elephants of this type are practice of dharma, while a white elephant represents the
less common than the white jade versions that stand four- tamed mind. In Chinese folklore, the elephant is a symbol of
square; a comparable figure carved from grey and russet jade, peace and the phrase ‘taiping youxiang, yutang fugui’ (may
but with its front legs outstretched, was sold in our New York there be peace and may your noble house be blessed with
rooms, 24th March 1998, lot 383; and a pale grey version, wealth and honour) is one that is traditionally used during New
but looking ahead, attributed to the 17th/18th century, is Year celebrations.
illustrated in Roger Keverne, Jade, London, 1001, pl. 70. See

Mark

176 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比