
This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in



An extremely rare white jade 'geese' box and cover 18th/19th century
Sold for £211,250 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot

Shipping (UK)
An extremely rare white jade 'geese' box and cover
Formed as a group of four geese clustered closely together, three with their necks outstretched and the fourth laying its head on the back of a neighbouring goose, one poised with spreading wings covering its neighbours and grasping a small leafy spray in its beak, all four geese divided horizontally across the body to form four separate compartments, the feet carefully webbed and standing amidst sprays of waterweed.
16.9cm (6 2/3in) long (2).
Footnotes
Provenance: Spink & Son, London, 29 November 1976
十八/十九世紀 白玉雕四鵝式蓋盒
來源: 於1976年11月29日購自倫敦Spink & Son
The wild goose was believed to mate for life, and thus became a popular symbol to express the desire for marital fidelity, peace and prosperity. Also recognised for its military tactics including flight formation, the goose was considered appropriate to identify fourth-rank officials from 1527 until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.
A box of similar design but with eight geese and dated to the 18th century is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (no.FE57-1983), and is illustrated by M.Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 2004, p.57.














