Page 139 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 London

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A pale green jade rhyton cup
18th century
The well-hollowed vessel issuing from the mouth of an intricately-
carved makara dragon with a chilong clambering up over the rim
incised with a band of archaistic scrolls on the body, with a vase to
one side, the two vessels joined by a phoenix standing on high-relief
scrolling clouds and biting a ruyi spray, the stone of pale green tone
with russet inclusions, wood stand.
16.5cm (6½in) high (2).
£5,000 - 8,000
HK$62,000 - 100,000 CNY49,000 - 79,000

十八世紀 青玉雕螭龍觥式杯連瓶
Provenance: an English private collection, purchased from Spink &
Son Ltd., London, on 10 October 1981
來源:英國私人收藏,1981年10月10日購於倫敦 Spink & Son Ltd.
According to Buddhist legend, the makara was originally a whale
that saved the lives of five hundred drowning merchants at sea, and
then sacrificed itself by providing its own body for food to feed the
victims. Because of its compassion and sacrifice, both important
virtues in Buddhist philosophy, the whale was then immortalised and
transformed into a makara, characterised by the head of a dragon
upon the body of a whale with wings and a pearl by its side.

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