A rare white jade carving of an apsara


Song/Ming DynastyDeftly Carved in openwork, the celestial deity in flight above scrolling clouds, holding a ribbon in one hand, adorned with a long flowing scarf and a beaded necklace, the stone of an even white tone, box. 7cm (2 3/4in) long (2).
|宋/明 白玉雕飛天Provenance:Durwin Tang Collection來源：鄧德雍收藏The subject matter of celestial deities in flight above scrolling clouds originated in Central Asia and appeared in China as early as the 6th century, as can be seen in cave paintings such as the one in cave 285 at Dunhuang in Gansu Province. See also a wall painting from Ming-oi in Xinjiang Province, 8th-9th century, in the British Museum, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.333. fig.1.Apsara representations in jade became popular during the Tang dynasty; see three examples of white jade apsaras from the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Yang Boda, Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, Shijia Zhuang, 2005, pp.421-422, nos.1-3.This style continued during the Song and Ming dynasties; compare with a closely related white jade Immortal seated on a phoenix, Song dynasty, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 5 Tang, Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, p.112, no.118; compare also with another similar white jade apsara, Ming dynasty, excavated in 1962 from a tomb of one of the Qianlong emperor's sons, in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Yu Ping, ed, Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series: Jades, Beijing, 2002, no.152.敦煌莫高窟285號窟可見一例公元六世紀之飛天，或為目前所見最早實例。飛天形象傳自中亞，多作舞姿曼妙的神像，肩披彩帶，身裹祥雲。大英博物館藏新疆明屋遺址之八至九世紀壁畫亦有飛天形象，參見J. Rawson著《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，頁333，圖1。玉雕飛天在唐代頗為流行，可參考三例北京故宮藏之唐代白玉飛天，見楊伯達著，《中國玉器全集》，石家莊，2005年，頁421至422，編號1至3。宋明亦見此類題材，北京故宮藏一件宋代白玉跨鳳仙人可參考之，見《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器篇》，卷五，北京，2011年，頁112，編號118；另可比較一件1962年乾隆某貝子墓出土之明代白玉飛天，現藏首都博物館，見《北京文物精粹大系》，玉器卷，北京，2002年，編號152。