Page 72 - Sotheby's Chinese Jades Hong Kong June 1, 2017

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A PALE CELADON JADE ‘THREE RAMS’ Skilfully modelled in the round, this charming piece is notable
GROUP for its sense of naturalism and liveliness which has been
QING DYNASTY OR EARLIER captured in the soft round forms of the animals and their
playful poses. Two similar carvings of three rams were sold
skilfully worked in the form of a recumbent ram with its head in these rooms, the first, 21st May 1987, lot 654, and the
turned backwards, finely rendered with a pair of striated second, 27th October 1993, lot 488; another was sold in our
curved horns, further portrayed flanked by two smaller rams, London rooms, 5th December 1995, lot 104; and a third was
the softly polished stone of an attractive even colour sold at Christie’s New York, 28th March 1996. See also a
5.9 cm, 2⅜ in. larger carving of three rams, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [The complete collection of
PROVENANCE Chinese jades], vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 307; and another
Sotheby’s London, 16th May 2007, lot 236. in the Tianjin Museum, Tianjin, included in the Museum’s
exhibition Tianjin shi yishu bowuguan cang. Yu [Tianjin City Art
HK$ 200,000-300,000 Museum. Jade], Tianjin, 1990, cat. no. 216.
US$ 25,800-38,700
The ram has a long history in China, first appearing on Shang
清或更早 青白玉三羊開泰 ritual bronzes and in the form of bronze lamps and ceramic
tomb figures during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). Small
來源： jade carvings of three reclining rams were popular from the
倫敦蘇富比，2007年5月16日，編號236 Song dynasty onwards, as the theme of three rams, san yang,
was considered particularly auspicious, evoking the expression
sanyang kaitai (‘the awakening of nature in spring) which
signified good luck and happiness. For an early depiction
of this motif in jade, see one attributed to the Song period,
included in the exhibition Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong
Museum of Art, Hong, Kong, 1996, cat. no. 90.

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