A very rare pale green and russet jade carving of a mythical beast


Ming DynastyWell carved in crouching posture looking to its right and upwards with the front right foot extended, the head carved in relief with rectangular-shaped eyes incised with circles, framed by the T-shaped nose and incised eyebrows, the ears pointed towards the back and flanking the finely incised mane along its neck reaching the crescent-ridged spine, the bushy tail flicked to one side, the rear haunches finely incised with scales below incised lines possibly depicting wings, the well-defined clawed feet with fur marks along the edges, the body of pale green tone with the russet cleverly used to denote the fur at the top, box. 5.8cm (2 1/4in) long (3).
|明 青玉帶皮異獸擺件Provenance:Durwin Tang Collection來源：鄧德雍收藏Powerful mythical beasts were used as tomb protectors from as early as the Han dynasty, carved in large scale in stone or pottery or on a smaller scale carved in jade, affording material and spiritual protection. See a large stone bixie, Eastern Han dynasty, Luoyang, Henan Province, and two jade bixie, Han dynasty and Eastern Han dynasty; and see also a jade bear and tiger, Han dynasty, and a jade mythical beast, Ming dynasty, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp.351-353, 360 and 373, figs.2(d), 3, 6; and nos.26:5 and 26:17. The present lot in the form of a crouching beast, whilst displaying later features than Han dynasty jade mythical beasts, successfully retains the sense of movement and energy accomplished through the diagonally extended front right leg and upward movement of the head. Additional early features can be observed in the very fine incised lines delineating the mane, wings and scales, as well as the style of carving of the paws and facial features.漢代以來異獸工藝品多做陪葬鎮墓之用，或石刻，或陶埏，或玉雕。此件拍品雖餘漢代特征，然更近明代時風，其鬃毛、雙翼、鱗羽及面部細節尚可追早期玉雕的特點，而其整體氣韻和動感則無早期玉雕異獸凌厲懼怖之態。數件早期實例可作參考，一件位於河南洛陽之東漢大型石雕辟邪，一件漢代和一件東漢玉雕辟邪，一件漢代玉熊和虎，以及一件明代玉雕異獸，分別著錄於J.Rawson著《Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年, 頁351至353，頁360及373， 圖2（d），圖3，圖6；以及編號26:5和26:17。