Page 104 - Sotheby's Speelman Collection Oct. 3, 2018

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A LARGE CARNELIAN AGATE 清十八世紀 南紅瑪瑙瑞獸

FIGURE OF A MYTHICAL
來源：
BEAST Rare Art Ltd，紐約，1980年5月9日

QING DYNASTY, 18TH
CENTURY

the substantial boulder carved in the form of a recumbent
beast with the tail curled alongside its rear haunches, the
vermillion-red sections of the stone skilfully carved as its
sharply backward-turned head, detailed with bulging eyes
beneath coiled eyebrows, flaring nostrils and an opened
mouth revealing sharp fangs, its mane and tail incised with fur,
the milky-white part of the stone forming its muscular body
with powerful limbs and a pronounced spine
15.5 cm, 6⅛ in.

PROVENANCE
Rare Art Ltd, New York. 9th May 1980.

HK$ 1,200,000-1,500,000
US$ 153,000-192,000

The present figure is impressive for its large size and vibrant
colour. A sense of playfulness is captured through the
creature’s animated expression, bulging eyes and dynamic
posture, while its power is implied through the clever
incorporation of the natural inclusions of the stone into the
overall composition. Such carvings required craftsmen to
visualise their final work by merely examining the pebble while
being able to adapt it spontaneously depending on further
inclusions they came across while modelling the piece.
Agate is a rare material that naturally forms when the iron
content from the earth’s surface is suffused within cooled
down lava. This specific type, distinctive for its striking
vermillion-red colour, is categorised as nanhong (‘south
red’) in Chinese, as such material was only available in the
southwest part of China, modern-day Yunnan province. Such
quality of carnelian agate was among the semi-precious
stones prized by the Qing court and was more frequently
utilised for the production of playthings, snuff bottles and
other small intricately carved scholar’s objects during the
18th century, when the art of agate carving reached its
unprecedented height.
See a small double vase carved with the Three Friends of
Winter, from the collections of George de Menasce and
Pierre de Menasce, included in the exhibition Chinese Jade
Throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
1975, cat. no. 491, and sold in these rooms, 7th October 2015,
lot 3746; and a vase in the form of a tree trunk, rendered with
finger citrons, pomegranates and peaches, from the T.Y. Chao
family collection, sold in these rooms, 30th November/1st
December 2017, lot 362. Further agate animal carvings of
related red-white colour scheme include a waterdropper in the
shape of a crane, from the collection of Heber R. Bishop and
now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession
no. 02.18.876a,b; and a figure of a water buffalo with a small
chimera seated on its back, sold in our New York rooms, 27th
February 1981, lot 345.