Page 85 - Christie's London May 14, 2019 Chinese Works of Art

The elephant is an auspicious symbol which is used in numerous rebuses to convey peace, prosperity
and good fortune. In Buddhism, elephants are regarded as one of the Seven Treasures and in a broader
context are seen as symbols of strength, wisdom and power. Ornately embellished fgures of elephants
in various materials were found in halls and throne rooms in the Imperial palace, such as the pair of
spinach-green jade elephants with cloisonné caparisons illustrated by Zhang Hongxing, The Qianlong
Emperor, Treasures from the Forbidden City, Edinburgh 2002, p. 44, no. 10. A mottled grey, black and
green jade elephant, Qianlong period, of similar style and posture, from the collection of Oscar Raphael
is illustrated by Stanley Charles Nott in Chinese Jade Throughout The Ages, Japan, 1962, plate LXX.
An 18th century mottled grey jade elephant of comparable size (22 cm. wide) and posture from the
Fitzwilliam Museum was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1 May - 22 June 1975, and
illustrated in Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Oriental Ceramic Society, 1975, Fig 398, p.120.

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