Page 138 - Sotheby's May 10th 2017 London Animal Menagerie, Chinese Art
P. 138
81 89 97
A LARGE CELADON JADE ‘LION A PALE CELADON A WHITE JADE ‘TWIN DEER
RETICULATED ‘LION’ PLAQUE AND LINGZHI’ GROUP
AND CUB’ GROUP MING DYNASTY 17TH CENTURY
17TH/18TH CENTURY See a related jade lion and cub carving included in Skillfully fashioned according to the natural long form
the exhibition Chinese Jade: Stone for the Emperors, Art of the pebble, this carving is particularly notable for
Fashioned from a pebble of considerable large size, the Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, 1986, cat. no. 63. the intimacy of the scene, as seen in the animals’ close
carver of this piece has captured a sense of movement reclining poses and locked gaze while together grasping
and liveliness in the rendering of the two cubs crawling 90 a lingzhi sprig in their mouths. As one of the symbols
on the back of the lion, who turns its head backward to for longevity and the only animal capable of finding
look at them. Carvings of animals with their young grew A WHITE JADE ‘LION AND CUB’ lingzhi, deer are often depicted with the stylised fungus
in popularity during the Yuan and Ming dynasty and GROUP in their mouth.
continued to be made in the Qing period. QING DYNASTY, 18TH
CENTURY Compare a slightly smaller jade deer group illustrated in
A similar carving was included in the exhibition The Roger Keverne, Jade, London, 1991, p. 141, pl. 33; one,
Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade, Sotheby’s, London, A similar lion and cub group is illustrated in Brian but lacking the rock work, illustrated in Compendium
2013, cat. no. 117; another attributed to the Ming Morgan, Naturalism & Archaism: Chinese Jades from the of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 6, Ming
dynasty, from the collection of Gerard Godfrey, was Kirknorton Collection, London, 1995, pl. 53; a slightly Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 244; and another sold in our
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th October 1995, lot smaller example attributed to the Song period, was New York rooms, 25th February 1983, lot 255.
877; and a smaller example was sold in these rooms, exhibited in Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong Museum
7th December 1993, lot 93. Compare also a carving of Art, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. no. 117; and another 99
of a lion and a single cub, in the Palace Museum, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition
Beijing, illustrated in Chinese Jades Throughout the Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert A CELADON JADE ‘CAMEL’
Ages, vol. 12, Hong Kong, 1997, pl. 54; another in the Museum, London, 1975, cat. no. 253. CARVING
Michael S.L. Liu collection, included in the exhibition MING DYNASTY
Virtuous Treasures: Chinese Jades for the Scholar’s Table,
Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong, 2008, cat. no. 104; and a third from the
collection of The Hon. Edgar Bromberger, sold in our
New York rooms, 12th September 2012, lot 360.
84 92 Elegant carvings of reclining camels were particularly
suitable for the scholar’s desk as the humps of the
A WHITE JADE LION A PALE CELADON JADE animal provided a support for brushes. See for example
17TH/18TH CENTURY ‘MONKEY’ GROUP a jade camel attributed to the Six Dynasties period, in
QING DYNASTY, 18TH the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the
Compare a jade lion included in the exhibition Chinese CENTURY exhibition Possessing the Past, Metropolitan Museum of
Jade: An Important Private Collection, Spink, London, Art, New York, 1996, cat. no. 338 (right).
1991, cat. no. 135; another with russet markings A related group of two jade monkeys, in the Rietberg
and attributed to the Ming dynasty, included in the Museum, Zurich, is illustrated in Marie-Fleur Burkart- A camel of this type and attributed to the Ming
exhibition Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong Museum Bauer, Chinesische Jaden aus drei Jahrtausenden, Zurich, dynasty, from the Qing Court collection and still in
of Art, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. no. 141; and a third 1986, pl. 194. Beijing, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in
included in the exhibition Art & Imitation in China, Art the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 6, Ming Dynasty, Beijing,
Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong 94 2011, pl. 268; another attributed to the Song dynasty,
Kong, 2006, cat. no. 47. was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition
A WHITE JADE ‘WUFU’ Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert
88 BRUSHREST Museum, London, 1975, cat. no. 249; and a third, its
QING DYNASTY, 18TH head touching its hind legs, in the Rietberg Museum,
AN AMBER ‘LION’ GROUP CENTURY Zurich, is published in Marie-Fleur Burkart-Bauer,
QING DYNASTY, 18TH Chinesische Jaden aus drei Jahrtausenden, Zurich, 1986,
CENTURY A slightly larger bat group is illustrated in René-Yvon pl. 102.
Lefebvre d’Argencé, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage
Compare a related amber carving of a lion and cubs Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl. XLVIII; and another
illustrated in R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, is published in Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman
Chinese Art: The Minor Arts II, London, 1965, pl. 103. Collection: Chinese Jades From Neolithic to Qing, Chicago,
2008, pl. 195.
136 SOTHEBY’S
