Page 199 - Bonhams Chinese & Asian Works of Art Los Angelis December 14 2020

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ROBERT P. YOUNGMAN
423
CELADON AND GRAY JADE DEER
Western Han Dynasty/Six Dynasties
The kneeling deer looking over its back, the lower body geometrically For another rare Han dynasty animal carving (ram) in a similar kneeling
cut but softly polished, the base flat with a few shallow cuts, the head position from the Qing Court Collection, see The Complete Collection
raised and with simply cut horns, the neck pierced horizontally for of the Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware I, [Gugong
suspension, the upper body of celadon tone and the lower portion bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenping quanji, yuqi zhong], The Commercial
calcified to a grey tone, traces of earth encrustation and red pigment. Press (Hong Kong) Ltd., 1995, p.237, no. 198.
1 1/2 in (3.7 cm) wide
See Stanley Charles Nott, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Tokyo,
$15,000 - 20,000 1962, pp.19-20, for a discussion of the deer in Chinese art where
the author notes that the deer (or stag) though not holding a place
Early carvings of deer in the round are rare. For an earlier green jade of honour (sic) in the Zodiacal circle, is nevertheless prominent in the
deer precursor to our carving and dated to the Western Zhou period, thoughts of the Chinese, its name (lu), a popular symbol meaning
but which is more geometric and posed recumbent and looking over ‘longevity’ and ‘income’ was probably suggested by the great length of
its back and with antlers raised, see the website of the Sanmenxia Guo life that tradition has ascribed to this animal. According to tradition “the
State Museum, Henan Province but unnumbered. For a later Song horns turn back, denoting that it has attained immortality”.
dynasty example see, Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 3 October 2013, lot 3110

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