Page 104 - Youngman jade Collection Hong Kong March 3 2019 Sotheby's

3445
A CELADON JADE FIGURE OF A MYTHICAL BEAST
MING DYNASTY
superbly depicted in mid-crawl as though preparing to pounce on its prey, the crouching mythical beast, possibly a bixie, rendered
with an elongated torso flanked by a pair of wings and flamelike tendrils, terminating in a bifurcated tail with curling ends, further
portrayed with a ferocious expression with an open mouth baring its fangs and tongue, all below heavy, curling brows and a pair of
slender curling horns, the back of the figure with a circular well, the stone of a mottled olive-green colour with light beige striations
and a beige patch to the forehead
明 青玉瑞獸
10.1 cm, 4 in.
HK$ 300,000-500,000
US$ 38,300-64,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Weisbrod Chinese Art Ltd, New York, 2002. Weisbrod Chinese Art, Ltd.，紐約，2002年
LITERATURE 出版
Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection 羅伯特．楊門，《楊門藏玉：中國玉器．新石器時代至
of Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 清代》，芝加哥，2008年，圖版141
2008, pl. 141

This mythical beast is modelled after prototypes made in the Han period (206 B.C.-A.D. 221), when prowling beasts with
menacing muscular bodies and ferocious expressions were considered as portents and omens, and often interred with the
deceased. During the Song and Ming dynasties, a growing interest in Chinese antiquity among influential scholars resulted in
the publication of illustrated catalogues and compendia, which served as manuals and reference books for connoisseurs of
archaic objects. Jade carvers of the Ming dynasty were often inspired by such compendia, such as the Sancai tuhui (Collected
Illustrations of the Three Realms) from 1609, assembled by the scholar Wang Qi (jinshi 1565), which includes a line drawing of
a jade reclining mythical animal, included in the exhibition Through the Prism of the Past: Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of
the 16th to 18th century, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2003, cat. no. II-04.
Two related celadon jade beasts with cover, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the
Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 6, Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pls 49 and 50, the first with its head turned to one side; another in
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is published in Ming Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, pl. 65; and a third was
sold in these rooms, 8th April 2010, lot 1915, probably the same that was sold at Christie’s London, 13th June 1990, lot 446.
For the prototype of this design, see a bixie recovered near Weiling, the tomb of Emperor Yuandi (r. 48-33 B.C.), and
illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade. From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 364, fig. 1, together with an
example in the British Museum, London, pl. 26:7.

102 SOTHEBY’S