Page 182 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
274
A SUPERB WHITE JADE CARVING OF A ‘QUAIL WITH MILLET’ According to Therese Te Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese
18th Century Art, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. 245, no.
Beautifully carved from a magnificent white stone with a coiling 8.22.2, the subject of quail, anchun, and ears of grain, sui, forms
seated quail holding a leafy spray of millet in its beak, its left wing out- either the rebus ‘May you have peace year after year’, suisui ping’an,
stretched across its back and the right wing tucked underneath the or ‘May there be peace and good harvest’, shuang’an jiahe. The first
body alongside the delicately indicated legs with a few minor russet character of the word for quail, is homophonous with the second
inclusions in tiny flecks. character of peace, ping’an. Similarly an ear of grain, sui, is a pun for
2 1/2in (6.5cm) across ‘year’, sui. Multiple ears therefore standing for ‘year after year’.

$8,000 - 10,000 For other examples of white or celadon jade figures of ‘quail with
millet’ in a variety of sitting positions all dating to the mid Qing dynasty,
清乾隆 白玉雕鵪鶉把件 see Jadeware III, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 101, no. 81; Sotheby’s, New York, 16
September 2008, lot 70; and Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, The Pilkington
Collection of Chinese Art, 5 April 2016, lot 61.

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