A very rare finely carved grey jade 'Apsara' plaque


Song DynastyElaborately carved in openwork with a female immortal seated on a phoenix in flight above a band of ruyi-shaped clouds, wearing a bud-shaped cap with her hands clasped to the front, her long robes billowing in the wind, the wings and tail feathers of the phoenix highly detailed with incised work, the stone of cream and dark grey tone. 6.7cm (2 5/8in) high.
|宋 青灰玉褐沁雕跨鳳仙人佩Provenance:An English private collectionMarchant, LondonExhibited, Published and Illustrated:Marchant, 90th Anniversary Exhibition: Ninety Jades for 90 Years, London, 2015, no.19來源：英國私人舊藏倫敦Marchant展覽、出版及著錄：Marchant，《玉器九十，90週年特展》，倫敦，2015年，編號19Compare with a very similar white jade plaque, Song dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collection in the Palace Museum: Jade 5, Beijing, 2011, pl.118, p.112.青玉質，白中閃青，滿覆灰黑色沁，高浮雕仙人跨鳳，其下雕雲紋烘托，鳳羽高聳，尾羽呈扇狀，鏤空淺刻並用，仙人頭戴高冠，開臉祥和，雙手合十，衣衫交領，兩袖後颺，想見雲起飛涌，背面光素。仙人跨鳳常見玉建築飛簷，有逢凶化吉的寓意。北京故宮藏一件宋代白玉跨鳳仙人，和本品極似，可參考之，見《故宮博物院藏品大系玉器篇5》，北京，2011年，編號118，頁112。