Page 82 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

31
A YELLOW JADE 'BOY AND DOG' GROUP
Qing Dynasty
Carved in the round as a crouching boy with
tufts of hair tied in a pair of knots atop his pate
and holding a rattle in the right hand, his left
arm around a recumbent dog and attentively
patting the animal's head, the canine with its
legs playfully reaching up to the boy's waist and
its tail curling around the boy's back, the semi-
translucent stone of creamy yellow tone, box.
5.5cm (2 1/8in) wide. (2).

HKD50,000 - 80,000
US$6,400 - 10,000

清 黃玉雕童子戲犬擺件
Compare with a related earlier jade 'boy and
dog' group, Ming dynasty, illustrated in the
Compendium of Collections in the Palace
Museum: Jade 6 Ming dynasty, Beijing, 2011,
p.274, no.284.
31
參考北京故宮藏一件明代白玉戲犬人，見《
故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器篇》，卷六，北
京，2011年，頁274，編號284。

32
A WHITE JADE CARVING OF A BOY AND
FELINE
18th century
The boy deftly carved reclining with one knee up,
clad in loose flowing robes with finely carved belt
and folds, a tuft of hair atop his pate, the face
with jovial expression, the cat with pricked ears,
almond-shaped eyes and incised fur clambering
playfully down the boy's left side into his lap,
wood stand.
5.5cm (2 1/8in) wide. (2).

HKD50,000 - 80,000
US$6,400 - 10,000

十八世紀 白玉雕童子戲貓
The theme of boys playing with animals
represent the implied wish for the prosperity and
good health of male offspring. In the present
group, the boy is depicted with a cat, symbolic
of longevity, because cat (mao 猫) is a pun on
the word for 'octogenarian' or 'nonagenarian'
(mao 耄).
32 See a jade carving of a boy and cat, Song
dynasty, in the Museum of East Asian Art,
Bath, illustrated by A.Forsyth and B.McElney,
Jades From China, Bath, 1994, pl.242. Another
jade carving of a boy and cat, Ming dynasty,
in the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in
the Compendium of Collections in the Palace
Museum: Jade, vol. 6, Ming Dynasty, Beijing,
2011, pl.285.

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