Page 83 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

玉質潤白，精緻小巧。童子呈側臥狀，左腳曲
立，姿勢舒泰自在，頭梳單髻，寬額飽滿，笑逐
顏開，身穿寬袍，腰下束帶。貓杏眼大耳，爬走
在童子身上，活潑生動，場面和樂融融。

以童子為題的器物自古已有，用以表達兒孫滿堂
之願。童子乃人之初，而「貓」諧音為「耄」，
意即耄耋，所謂耄耋之年是指八九十歲之人，故
童子戲貓表達了多子長壽的美好祈願。

見英國巴斯東亞藝術博物館藏一件宋代的玉
雕童子戲貓把件，A.Forsyth和B.McElney著，
《Jades from China》，香港，1994年，圖版
242。另可參考清宮舊藏一件明代玉雕童子戲貓
把件，見《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器編6明》
，北京，2011年，編號285。

33
A PALE GREEN JADE CARVED 'BOY AND
FLOWER VASE' GROUP
17th century
Deftly carved as a standing boy clad in loose
flowing robes, the hair tied into a bun atop his
large head, holding a large meiping vase incised
with cracked-ice-pattern containing branches of
blossoming prunus, the stone of pale
green tone.
6.5cm (2 1/2in) high.

HKD80,000 - 100,000
US$10,000 - 13,000
十七世紀 青白玉雕吉祥童子

A popular auspicious motif since the Song
dynasty, 'Boys at play' or 'hundred boys'
commonly depicts one or several groups of boys
playing various games including playing with
animals and imitating adult literati's activities,
such as flower arrangement. This lot, lot 31 and
lot 32 may belong to the same theme of 'boys 33
at play'.
Compare with a related but later pale green and
russet jade carving of a boy holding a vase, Qing
dynasty, illustrated in The Woolf Collection of
Chinese Jade, London, 2013, p.192. Another
related jade carving of a boy holding a lotus,
early Qing dynasty, is illustrated by T.Fok, The
Splendour of Jade: The Songzhutang Collection
of Jade, Hong Kong, 2011, p.104, no.90.
玉質白中閃青，立體圓雕一童子，臉形渾圓，頭
束髮髻，眼角細長，嘴角微頷笑意，身穿束腰外
袍，下著寬褲，體態飽滿。其左手捧持花瓶，瓶
身陰刻冰裂紋，瓶口上方鏤雕梅花。「瓶」音同
「平」，意謂平安，寓意吉祥。

MORE THAN A GAME | 81