Ca. 1368-1644 AD. Ming Dynasty (or later). A beautiful marble elephant shown standing foursquare on a rectangular base, wearing a halter and a chest strap hung with tassels securing a striated blanket set beneath a smaller cloth carved with foliate decoration which is surmounted by a circle of bosses surrounding a vessel decorated with foliage motifs. White elephants were either seen as vehicles of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra or in their own right as symbols of strength, sagacity and moral purity. For a general overview of the art of the Ming Dynasty, see Department of Asian Art. (2000). "Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ming/hd_ming.htm) Size: L:345mm / W:290mm ; 15.6kg. Provenance: East Anglian private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.