Page 96 - Robert Youngman Collection Of Chinese Jade March 2019 Sotheby's

252
A PALE CELADON JADE CARVING OF A MYTHICAL BEAST
MING DYNASTY
fluidly carved, the animal laying with its legs tucked underneath the arced body, the head turned and nestled into the left shoulder, long floppy
ears framing the cheeks centered by a long curling, striated horn, the bushy bifurcated tail sweeping around and grazing the nose, the fur variously
patterned in swirls carved in intaglio and relief, the stone an even creamy color with fine russet speckles at the spine and by the face

明 青白玉雕瑞獸把件
Length 2 in., 5 cm
$ 15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Collection of Jon Edwards. Jon Edwards 收藏
LITERATURE 出版
Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection of 羅伯特•楊門，《楊門藏玉：中國玉器·新石器時代至清代》，
Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, 芝加哥，2008年，圖版150
pl. 150.

This carving makes excellent use of the pebble from which it was carved. The composition is harmonious from every angle, with the restful
countenance of the animal counterbalanced by the active swirling patterns of the fur and the undulations of the tail and mane that form
a dynamic frame around the body. Moreover, the artisan has taken care to include minute details such as pupils in the eyes, two rows of
individual teeth in the mouth, toes and paw pads at the feet, and bands of short fine fur at the ankles, tail, and horn.
Other jades produced around the early Ming period bear similar carving characteristics, such as a white jade figure of a mythical beast and
one of a toad in a lotus, both exhibited in Jades from China, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, 1994, cat. nos 289 and 301; a yellow jade
carving of a mythical beast from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection sold at Christie’s New York, 1st December 1994, lot 122, and previously
published in Desmond Gure, ‘Selected Examples from the Jade Exhibition at Stockholm, 1963: A Comparative Study’, The Museum of Far
Eastern Antiquities Bulletin, no. 36, 1964, pl. 11.2; a pale celadon jade carving of a winged ram published in John Ayers, A Jade Menagerie:
Creatures Real and Imaginary from the Worrell Collection, London, 1993, cat. no. 21; a russet jade carving of geese formerly in the
Kirknorton Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th October 2015, lot 3654; and a white and russet jade carving of a horse sold in the
same rooms, 30th November 2017, lot 22.

94 SOTHEBY’S