18th century The recumbent beast deftly carved in the round, with feet tucked underneath the body and the head turning to the right, detailed in relief between with a single horn between two pointed ears above protruding eyes and flaring nostrils, the muscles of the body accentuated by smooth curved lines and well-detailed spine, the semi-translucent stone of even greenish-white tone with russet inclusions, wood stand. 10cm (4in) wide (2).Footnotes十八世紀 白玉雕瑞獸擺件 Provenance: A distinguished Asian private collection 來源： 亞洲顯赫私人收藏 The finely carved and polished single-horn mythical beast, which can be identified as xiezhi, is a superb example of the jade carver's ability to take advantage of the pebble shape to create imaginary creatures of arresting sculptural quality at the time when fine-quality white jade stone such as the present lot was expensive to access. The xiezhi is a legendary mythical beast considered to be a symbol of justice and law. The earliest record of xiezhi in literature dates back to the Han dynasty, where it is described as a strong mythical beast with one horn who settled disputes by directly ramming the party at fault. Compare with a similarly-carved jade mythical beast illustrated in Jade Blossom, Imperial Xiuneisi Jade Objects and Ancient Jade Gems Collected by the Xu's of Cixi, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, 2010, pp.196-197; and see also a further example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection, 2015, no.9 (acc.no.02.18.381). A related white jade carving of a mythical beast and cub from the collection of Mr and Mrs Emile Gavage-Longree, was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 28 May 2019, lot 39. 此件瑞獸獨角羊身，或為東漢以來所云獬豸，獬豸的形象東漢前莫衷一是，或云獨角羊者，《後漢書·輿服志》：「法冠......或謂之獬豸冠。獬豸神羊，能別曲直，楚王嘗獲之，故以為冠。」後遂多以獨角羊的形象出現。 杭州歷史博物館藏一件宋代玉獸，亦是獨角披髪，頷下有鬚，用刀藏鋒，打磨圓潤，本件拍品與其風格極似，見古方著，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁328。另見北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件宋代玉異獸，著錄於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：玉器（中）》，香港，頁67，編號57。 邦瀚斯香港曾售出一件比利時Emile Gavage-Longree伉儷舊藏的十八世紀白玉雕母子瑞獸擺件，可資比較，2019年5月28日，拍品編號39。