Three jade carvings of rams


Ming Dynasty and earlierEach carved as a recumbent ram with its hoofed legs tucked under the body, head facing forward, its long horns curled behind its ears, the first carved with the semi-translucent and russet stone of a celadon tone with a lustrous polish, the other two of light yellow tone with russet inclusions, box. The largest 8.3cm (3 1/4in) wide (4).
|明或更早 青玉臥羊一件及黃玉沁色臥羊兩件Provenance:Durwin Tang Collection, prior to 2010來源：鄧德雍收藏，早於2010年Compare the pale green and russet jade ram to a related pale green jade recumbent beast, Wei/ Jin dynasty, with similarly carved hooves, in the Tianjin Museum, illustrated by Yang Boda, zhongguo yuqi quanji, Shijia Zhuang, 2005, no.285. Compare the other two ram carvings to another related jade recumbent ram in the British Museum, Song dynasty or later, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.368, fig.1. See also the similarly relief-carved ears of a whitish-grey jade ram, Song dynasty, illustrated by G.Tsang, Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong, 1996, no.94.天津博物館藏一件魏晉青玉臥獸，其屈蹄之貌與本件青玉臥羊類似，見楊伯達著，《中國玉器全集》，石家莊，2005年，編號285。另可參考大英博物館所藏兩件宋或更晚的玉臥羊，見J.Rawson， 《Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，頁368，圖1。香港藝術館曾展出一件宋代灰白玉羊亦資參考，其浮雕耳部和本品相似，見《中國肖生玉雕》，香港，1996年，編號94。