A rare pale green and russet jade carving of a recumbent mythical beast


Ming DynastyThe mythical beast with its right leg stretched forward, the claws on the fours legs well defined, the head raised and turning to the left looking up, the squarish eyes framed by the T shaped nose and incised S-scroll eyebrows, the haunches with incised fur along the edges, and wing scrolls carved in relief on the back haunches, the bi-furcated tail incised and pierced, the underside with a carved diagonal line, the stone of pale green tone with russet and calcified inclusions, wood stand, box. 9cm (3 1/2in) long (3).
|明 青玉帶皮臥獸把件Provenance:Sotheby's London, 12-14 July 2006, lot 263 (part lot)Durwin Tang Collection, prior to 2010來源：倫敦蘇富比，2006年7月12日至14日，拍品編號263（之一）鄧德雍收藏，早於2010年The style of carving, subject matter and poise are inspired by the post Han dynasty to Six Dynasties jade carvings, exhibiting a slightly more timid and overall less dynamic or powerful mythical beast in comparison to Han dynasty examples. For Han dynasty examples see Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, pp.272-273. Compare with a pale green and russet jade group of tiger and bear, Han dynasty, illustrated by G.Tsang, Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong, 1996, no.48, showing similar style of eyes. Compare also the style of carving on the undersides of a jade bear, Han/ Six Dynasties, and a jade pig, Six Dynasties, illustrated by G.Tsang, Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong, 1996, nos.57 and 62.此件玉雕風格、題材及儀態，與漢代及六朝作品一脈相承，然本件玉獸較之前者更有溫順之態。可參考數件漢代玉獸，見古方著，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁272至273。另可參考香港藝術館曾展出之一組漢代青玉帶皮虎和熊，眼部雕琢和本拍品類似，見《中國肖生玉雕》，香港，1996年，編號48；同一展覽另有一件漢代或六朝玉熊，底部可參考之，一件六朝玉豬亦資比較，見前書，編號57及62。