Page 156 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

his outstanding carving of a winged leonine beast embodies the innate power and other
worldliness of its mythical subject. The Han dynasty to Six Dynasties period witnessed a
Tflourishing production of jade animals with a particular enthusiasm for mythical creatures.
In contrast to the majority of earlier two-dimensional jade carvings, made for the afterlife or to adorn the
individual, these figural sculptures were created in the round as independent objects, assuming a role of
being both a sumptuous display item for appreciation by the elite, as well as serving as a reminder of the
powerful supernatural forces latent in the world.

Lions are not native to China but were introduced from ancient Persia and India during the Eastern
Han dynasty and were presented as state gifts to the Han court by the kings of Parthia and Bactria.
As Buddhism spread through China in the following centuries, guardian animals of the religion gained
broad popularity and were produced in a range of media. The present jade carving is reminiscent of the
large stone sculptures of lions that lined the ‘spirit paths’ leading to the tombs of royals and aristocrats.
The use of spirit paths began in the Early Han dynasty and continued over the following centuries, with
the sculptures becoming more naturalistically rendered by the Tang dynasty. Compare a Han dynasty
stone lion found at Luoyang, Henan Province and now in the Shandong Provincial Museum, included
in the exhibition Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C.–A.D. 200), The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2017, cat. no. 104.

Originally attributed to the Wei period by C.T. Loo in his 1950 catalogue for his exhibition at the Norton
Gallery of Art, this jade beast was later described as late Eastern Zhou dynasty by Alfred Salmony, when
the piece was illustrated in his posthumously published book, Chinese Jade Through the Wei Dynasty,
New York, in 1963, pl. LX, 3. Stylistically, the present piece compared favorable to other small jade
carvings of animals, produced from the Han to Six Dynasties periods.

The excavation of the tomb of the Han dynasty emperor Yuandi (r. 48-33 BC) at Xianyang, near Xi’an,
revealed a number of fabulous beasts in jade, including a winged bixie, carved standing four square
with their stout rounded bodies supported on short legs, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jades from the
Neolithic to the Qing, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 351, fig. 2a-d.

本品瑞獸，其形似獅，兩翼側收，所呈強壯氣概似與 用此樣式，直至唐朝，方為愈加繁複逼真之瑞獅形
生而俱，不怒自威。自漢代至六朝，動物玉雕之傳統 象所替。河南洛陽發現一漢代石獅例，現貯山東省
便已瀾觞而至欣榮，瑞獸題材更得親睞，視為大宗。 博物館，可資比較，展並錄於《Age of Empires:
漢朝以前玉雕多呈平面，為殉葬品，或作個人裝飾 Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties
品；然其後，多製圓雕象生玉器，用於現世陳設，為 (221 B.C.–A.D. 200)》，大都會藝術博物館，紐
權貴精英賞玩之物件，或用以告誡玉主，勿忘世間潛 約，2017年，編號104。
在神力，端其品行，增固嘉德。
此件玉獸最早見於盧芹齋五十年代之展覽圖錄，曾展
獅，古稱狻倪，非中原本土物種，源自古波斯、印 於諾頓美術館，盧芹齋斷其年代為魏；後又載錄於
度，於東漢時期由大夏及安息帝國國王作為國禮， Alfred Salmony，《Chinese Jade Through the
進獻漢廷。後隨佛教傳播中原，神獅作為守衛靈獸 Wei Dynasty》，紐約，1963年，圖版LX, 3，作者
之形象，備受垂青，製於多種材質。此件玉雕線條 定其年代為東周後期。此般精美玉雕神獸，可參者只
簡樸古拙，教人聯想自東漢起，安置於皇室及貴族 寥寥數件，然經多番比較，本品年代應屬漢至六朝時
陵園前神道兩側之鎮墓石獅造像，後朝歷代，均沿 期。

154 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA