A RARE AND VERY LARGE PALE GREEN AND GREY JADE CARVING OF A RECLINING HOUND Late Qing Dynasty (2)A RARE AND VERY LARGE PALE GREEN AND GREY JADE CARVING OF A RECLINING HOUNDLate Qing DynastyThe slender recumbent hound carved with its head turned facing the rear, with front paws together and hind legs tucked beside its belly, the back finely detailed with the spinal ridge, the ribs well defined, the stone of greenish and dark tone suffused with brown inclusions, box. 30.7cm (12in) long. (2).清晚期 玉臥犬Provenance: Christies' London, 4 April 1979, lot 226James Basil Wilson and Julia Wilson, and thence by descentIn 1945, James Basil Wilson returned from The Second World War having served with the Gurkhas. He married Julia Burke in 1949 and they moved to London. James started working for Iron and Steel Exporters and later that year, he was offered the chance to set up an office Hong Kong, so they moved there and set up home. The business was successful, they loved Hong Kong and they lived the life of ex-patriates to the full. They swam, played golf, made friends and indulged their passion for fast cars, competing in amateur road races. Julia claimed to have won at the first Macau Grand Prix. As well as enjoying the pastimes of the culture they brought with them, they developed an enduring love for China, Chinese people, Chinese food and Chinese art. With a growing family, they returned to England in 1957. They brought with them the pieces they had bought in Hong Kong and James made many trips to Hong Kong and continued to build their collection throughout the following decades mainly from dealers in London.來源：倫敦佳士得，1979年4月4日，拍品編號226James Basil Wilson與Julia Wilson伉儷舊藏，並由後人保存迄今James Basil Wilson二戰期間曾於廓爾喀軍團服役，1945年返回英國。 1949年與Julia Burke結婚，婚後搬至倫敦，並開始為Iron and Steel Exporters效力，同年被委任籌備香港辦事處，遂移居香港。事業發展蒸蒸日上的同時，Wilson伉儷也充分享受著外派人士的理想生活；游泳、打高爾夫、結交朋友，沉迷賽車運動甚至參加業餘車手街道賽，Julia聲稱曾完賽首屆澳門格蘭披治大賽車。在保留西方生活方式的同時，Wilson伉儷也對中國及其民眾、美食和藝術產生了長久的熱情。 1957年，隨著家庭的不斷壯大，Wilson一家回到英國，並帶回了其在香港購置的藝術品。此後，James多次前往香港，並在接下來的幾十年中持續造訪倫敦的古董商，擴充藏品。Jade carvings of dogs, generally depicted in a recumbent posture, were made from the Tang dynasty onwards but are seldom found in such exceptionally large size as the present lot.Dogs were long valued for their fidelity and alertness. The dog first appears in Chinese art as the hound of the hunt, becoming next the ferocious dog of war, and lastly the fearless guardian of the Palace and the Temple. It was common practice for pottery models of dogs to be buried during the Han dynasty, in the belief that they would keep the deceased master's company in the afterlife. This motif was later revived in the Yuan period and continued in a mannered and simplified form into the Ming and Qing dynasties. Jade carvings such as the present lot may have been owned by those who wished to be known for their hunting skills, an activity that was associated with rank and status. Compare with a related pale green and russet jade crouching hound, Song dynasty, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.366, pl.26:10; and another example of a pale green and russet jade hound but in a sitting posture, Qing dynasty, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware III, Shanghai, 1995, no.86.Hounds formed a central part of Qing Court hunting practices, keen to maintain the Manchu traditions. The importance of the hounds to the Qianlong emperor is clearly evident from the series of paintings of favourite dogs commissioned from the Jesuit Court painter Giuseppe Castiglione, and in the later ten-leaf album painted by Ignaz Sichelbarth, circa 1745-1758; see two paintings by Castiglione depicting recumbent hounds, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, nos.GuHua00373400000 and GuHua00374000000; and Ten Fine Dogs, a ten-leaf album in the Qing Court Collection by Sichelbarth, painted after Castiglione, illustrated by E.S.Rawski and J.Rawson, eds., China: The Three Emperors 1662 - 1795, London, 2005, pp.188-189, no.84.Furthermore, the importance of hounds in Qing Court culture manifested itself not just in jade carvings and painitngs, but also in ceramics. See for example, a green-glazed model of a hound, 18th century, in a pose very similar to Castiglione's portrayal of a dog named 'Sudden-flight Magpie', illustrated in Portrayals from a Brush Divine: A Special Exhibition on the Tricentennial of Giuseppe Castiglione's Arrival in China, Taipei, 2015, pp.238-239, no.V-22. This suggests the possibility that the production of such 'portraiture porcelain' of dogs was connected to Western missionaries in the 18th century.