Page 330 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

3719

A FINELY CARVED JADE FIGURE OF A 宋 玉臥牛
BUFFALO
SONG DYNASTY 來源：
Alsdorf 伉儷收藏，芝加哥
well worked in the form of a recumbent buffalo with its legs 埃斯卡納齊古董行，倫敦
neatly tucked beneath its body, the beast rendered with a
slightly raised head accentuated with a pronounced snout, 展覽：
further portrayed with a pair of long curved horns and a long 《Chinese Art from the Collection of James W. and
incised tail swept up against its right side, the muscular body Marilynn Alsdorf》，The Arts Club of Chicago，芝加
flanked with ribs and marked with subtle curves, the stone of 哥，1970年，編號J19
a greyish-green colour with attractive russet veining 《Twenty Five Years: Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Gilt
7.9 cm, 3⅛ in.
Bronzes, Inlaid Bronzes, Silver, Jades, Ceramics》， 埃斯
PROVENANCE 卡納齊古董行，倫敦， 1985年，編號19
James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago. 馮陳善奇及楊春堂編，《玲瓏玉雕－玉人、玉獸、玉
Eskenazi Ltd, London. 飾》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，1996年，編號82
EXHIBITED
Chinese Art from the Collection of James W. and Marilynn
Alsdorf, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, 1970, cat. no.
J19.
Twenty Five Years: Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Gilt Bronzes,
Inlaid Bronzes, Silver, Jades, Ceramics, Eskenazi Ltd,
London, 1985, cat. no. 19.
Sydney S.K. Fung and Yeung Chun-tong, eds, Exquisite
Jade Carving: Figures, Animals, Ornaments, The University
Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong
Kong, 1995, cat. no. 82.
HK$ 800,000-1,200,000
US$ 102,000-153,000

Finely carved in a reclining pose with its legs tucked under Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., illustrated by Jessica
the body, the carver of this piece has skilfully captured Rawson, ‘Animal Motifs in Early Western Zhou Bronzes from
the animal’s tranquil and bucolic nature through its gentle the Arthur M. Sackler Collections’, Chinese Bronzes: Selected
expression and recumbent pose. Jade pebbles carved in the articles from Orientations, 1983-2000, Hong Kong, 2001, p.
round in the form of animals were created for the scholar’s 20, fig. 12. Jade carvings of animals excavated from Shang
studio and were often used as paperweights. Water buffaloes tombs during the Song dynasty no doubt had an influence on
were a popular subject matter in the Song dynasty, as they contemporaneous works.
represented the bucolic life in the countryside away, from
official duties. A jade buffalo excavated from a Southern Song dynasty
tomb at Zhuji, Zhejiang, is illustrated in Jessica Rawson,
Water buffaloes were revered from early on in Chinese Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum,
history, with some of the earliest jade carvings of water London, 1995, p. 356, fig. 10; and one modelled with its
buffaloes dating to the Shang dynasty, such as a small head raised, was sold in these rooms 30th November 2017,
carving of a reclining buffalo in the Metropolitan Museum lot 5. See also a much larger buffalo attributed to the Song
of Art, New York, published on the Museum’s website, dynasty and inscribed with an imperial poem composed by
accession. no. 1976.297.2; one carved in flat relief in the the Qianlong Emperor, from the collection of Natasha du
collection of Mrs Edward Sonnenschein, illustrated in A. Breuil, sold at Christie’s London, 11thNovember 2003, lot 65,
Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China, 1938, pl. XXIII (8) and again in these rooms, 3rd October 2018, lot 3113.
and an example in the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M.

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