Footnotes

• 十八/十九世紀 黑白玉巧雕牛生麒麟擺件
  
  Provenance 來源:
  Somerset de Chair (1911-1995)
  
  It is very unusual to see the combination of a buffalo and a mythical beast together, representing both the natural and the mythical animal world. A related example of buffalo and qilin carved in white jade is in the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath: see A.Forsyth and B.McElney, Jades from China, Hong Kong, 1994, no.325.
  
  The present lot also makes particularly skilled use of the variations between the black and white areas of the stone. This playful style, frequently used to join two separate elements in one more complex design, can also be seen in three small jade pieces dated respectively to the Qing dynasty, and the 18th/19th century, in the Seattle Museum, illustrated by J.C.Y.Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Museum, Seattle, 1989, p.87, nos.65a-c.
  
  麒麟是中國傳統瑞獸，是神仙的坐騎，與鳳、龜、龍共稱「四靈」。而中國自古以來便有「麒麟之生，多托牛腹」的說法，但傳世品中以黑白玉同時巧雕牛與麒麟則非常少見。見英國巴斯的東亞藝術博物館藏一件白玉雕牛生麒麟，A.Forsyth和B.McElney著，《Jades from China》，香港，1994年，編號325。
  
  玉匠巧妙地運用了玉材天然色質，巧妙雕琢了水牛和麒麟，一黑一白，雙色分明，足可見師傅的巧思匠心，實屬難得。此類把兩種獨立元素結集在一個複雜的設計風格是清代玉器中常見的裝飾手段，類似的組合設計可參考三件現藏於西雅圖博物館分別為清代和十八/十九世紀的小玉器，著錄於J.C.Y.Watt，《Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Museum》，西雅圖，1989年，頁87，編號65a-c。