Bonhams 1793 : A rare and large jade carving of a recumbent water buffalo Qing Dynasty

Bonhams magazines

My Bonhams

Advanced search

8 Nov 2012 10:00 GMT London, New Bond Street
Fine Chinese Art
Back to auction 20024

A rare and large jade carving of a recumbent water buffalo

Qing Dynasty
The jade of an attractive purplish-grey tone, carved as an impressive buffalo resting on four legs tucked underneath the massive body, the head turned to gaze over the left shoulder, a pair of stout curving horns issuing from the flat head with the tips almost meeting over the neck, the shallow ridged spine leading down to the curling tufted tail, box.
26.4cm (10 1/8in) long (2).

Estimate:

£65,000 - 80,000
HK$ 760,000 - 940,000
CNY 600,000 - 740,000

Footnotes

Provenance: Christie's London, 13 June 1990, lot 428 (illustrated as lot 430)

清灰玉雕臥水牛

來源: 佳士得，倫敦，1990年6月13日，拍賣品號428（顯示為拍賣品號430）

The buffalo has long been a popular subject matter for jade carving, with notable examples from the Han Dynasty onwards: see, for example, the small mottled green jade buffalo dated to the Han Dynasty illustrated by R-Y.Lefebvre-d'Argencé, Chinese Jades in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1972, pl.XXII.

This particular massive form of the buffalo belongs to a distinct group of jade carvings, which also includes horses, which were made on a much larger scale than other animals, and usually from opaque jade in a range of greenish shades; for a brief discussion on the origins of these large carvings, see J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.376, no.26:19. Similarly massive buffalo carvings are included in major museum collections around the world, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. For a Ming Dynasty example, see the large buffalo sold at Christie's, New York, 21 March 2000, lot 126.

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

Auction terms and conditions