Page 126 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

he pictorial tradition of depicting tigers in Chinese art has been traced back to circa 4000
BC, when profile images of the a tiger and dragon were found on either side of a human
Tskeleton found in a burial site at Xishuipo, Puyang, present day Henan province. Later, the
tiger would be included as one of the animals of the four directional animals, sishen, representing the
west.

The present lot is based on jade tigers from the Han dynasty which are typically carved in coiled
recumbent or seated positions, following the form of the pebble, and carved with squared eyes, sparsely
incised details and a flattened base. Compare one, with the head raised, in the collection of Brian
McElney, included in the exhibition Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, Asia House Gallery, New York,
1980, cat. no. 9; one with the mouth agape, illustrated in Alfred Salmony, Archaic Chinese Jades from the
Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein Collection, Chicago, 1952, pl. CVI, fig. 1; another in the Qing Court
Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Jadeware (I), Hong
Kong, 1995, pl. 199; and two included in the exhibition Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong Museum of
Art, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. nos 45-46. Another, formerly in the collection of Jon Edwards, was sold at
Christie’s New York, 2nd December 1989, lot. 185.

Such jade carvings clearly echo bronze casting of the Han dynasty, including a number of gilt-bronze
and inlaid-bronze mat weights. Compare a single tiger-form gilt-bronze mat weight from the Alsdorf
Collection, included in the exhibition Arts of the Han Dynasty, Chinese Art Society of America, New York,
1961, cat. no. 58; and a similar pair included in the exhibition A Bronze Mengarie: Mat Weights of Early
China, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2007, cat. no. 1.

中國藝術中虎的形象可追溯至公元前約4000年前， 集·玉器（上）》，香港，1995年，圖版199；另二
在今河南省濮陽西水坡一處墓穴中發現了一具人體骨 例曾展出於《中國肖生玉雕》展，香港藝術館，香
架，其兩側就各擺塑著龍虎圖案。此後，虎更被列入 港，1996年，編號45-46；另見 Jon Edwards 收
四向方位神兽之一，亦稱四神，是西方的代表。 藏一件亦可資參考，售於紐約佳士得1989年12月2
日，編號185。
本品呈漢風。漢代玉虎多作盤繞倚臥或端坐之姿，形
似玉卵，雕以平直雙眼，简工雕琢，底座扁方。可 此類玉雕風格明顯與漢代銅鎏金及銅錯金銀等席鎮
比一例，Brian McElney 收藏，曾展於《Chinese 相類。可比一銅鎏金虎形席鎮，Alsdorf 收藏，展於
Jades from Han to Ch’ing》，Asia House Gal- 《Arts of the Han Dynasty》,美國中國藝術協會，
lery，紐約，1980年，編號9；另比一例，口微張， 紐約，1961年，編號58；另有一對相類，展於《A
載 Alfred Salmony，《Archaic Chinese Jades Bronze Mengarie: Mat Weights of Early China》
from the Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein ，伊莎貝拉嘉納藝術博物館，波士頓，2007年，編
Collection》，芝加哥，1952年，圖版CVI，圖1； 號1。
仍比清宮舊藏一例，錄《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全

124 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA