A pale green and russet jade carving of a mythical beast


17th/18th centuryThe recumbent beast facing forwards with fore-paws tucked neatly beneath the body, clasping a sprig of auspicious lingzhi fungus in its jaws beneath bulbous eyes and ruyi-shaped ears, with knobbly spine descending towards the finely-incised bushy tail flicked over the rear right haunch, the pale green stone with russet inclusions. 8cm (3 1/8in) long.
|十七/十八世紀 青白玉帶皮瑞獸擺件Provenance: Roger Keverne Ltd., Winter exhibition, London, 2006, no.96A distinguished English private collection來源：2006年購於倫敦Roger Keverne Ltd.，「冬季展覽」，編號96英國顯貴私人收藏The present lot takes its inspiration from Six Dynasties period carvings of animals; see for example, R.Fisher, Magic, Art and Order: Jade in Chinese Culture, Plam Springs, 1990, p.39, no.27, from the collection of Mr W.P.Chung; and J.Hartman-Goldsmith, Chinese Jade, Oxford, 1986, p.51, no.16, for another in the Sonnenschein Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. For related Ming dynasty examples, see Chung, Michaelson and So, Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong, 1996, pp.162-163, no.148: and C.T.Li and J.C.Y.Watt, The Chinese Scholar's Studio: Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period, New York, 1987, no.52.