A very rare white and russet jade mythical beast


Song/Yuan DynastyThe mythical beast powerfully and compactly carved with its head coiled over the left shoulder, the flattened head crowned with a single horn, the jaws open to reveal the menacing teeth, the front right leg extended forwarded and the others to the side or tucked underneath, the cushioned paws with well-defined claws box and the edges of the legs incised to delineate the fur, the incised and ridged spine reaching to the tail continuing underneath and coiled beside the left flank, pierced hole by the horn, the stone of white tone with russet inclusions, box. 5.1cm (2in) long (2).
|宋/元 白玉褐沁辟邪Provenance:Durwin Tang Collection來源：鄧德雍收藏The compact almost squarish body of the beast with its head coiled to the left portrays a powerful beast with compressed strength ready to be unleashed. Compare a related greenish-white and russet jade chimera, possibly Western Han dynasty; and see also the 'heart'-shaped incised paw to the underside of the feet of a grey and russet jade chimera, Six Dynasties, illustrated by G.Tsang, Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong, 1996, nos.44 and 58. A further greenish, black and russet jade mythical beast, Tang dynasty, is illustrated by J.C.Y.Watt, Chinese Jades from the Han to the Ch'ing, New York, 1980, no.27, where the author notes that the '...excessively coiled position is found rarely, if at all, in animals after the T'ang period.'此件玉獸身形短小，而伏踞之態頗為有張力。香港藝術館曾展出兩件早期異獸或可作比，一件或為西漢早期的青白玉帶沁辟邪，一件六朝灰玉帶沁辟邪，其心形爪和本品類似，見《中國肖生玉雕》，香港，1996年，編號44及48。另有一件唐代青玉黑褐沁異獸可資參考，見屈志仁著，《Chinese Jades from the Han to the Ch'ing》，紐約，1980年，編號27，作者認為唐代以後的肖生玉器中，十分罕見此類盤身異獸作品。