A white and russet jade 'bird and lotus' carving


18th century The smooth pebble carved with a small bird, the feathers meticulously incised, perched on a stalk of lotus issuing fleshy petals and lotus seed pods, the stone of pale white tone with minor russet inclusions. 5cm (2in) wide.
|十八世紀 白玉带皮雕荷塘水禽把件Provenance: Sotheby's London, 16 June 1998, lot 162Lowenthal Collection, no.52來源：倫敦蘇富比，1998年6月16日，拍品编號162Lowenthal藏品，编號52THE LOWENTHAL COLLECTION OF JADESHans 'Jack' Lowenthal was born in Frankfurt, Germany but at the age of five was brought to Britain with the rest of his family by his father in 1933. Although he briefly returned to Germany in 1934-1937 he thereafter permanently settled London. His father Julius Lowenthal founded the Smokers' and other accessories' business in Germany in 1921 but when he invented the most original semi-automatic lighter in 1928 he named it Colibri. Colibri gift lighters, pens, watches wallets became internationally well-known under the Colibri brand. In 1953, Hans Lowenthal joined Colibri and was the Managing Director for over 25 years. Lowenthal enjoyed designing and creating new products and he holds several important patents. Among the most important of his inventions was incorporating the Piezo-electric concept into a lighter, thereby creating a lighter that never needed a flint or battery, as the ignition spark was created manually. In 1967, he named the Colibri version 'Molectric' (molecular electricity). He also supervised Colibri when commisioned to design and manufacture the 'Golden Gun' and various Colibri products for the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. Julius Lowenthal began collecting jades in the 1950s, and one of his first items included a jade axe (Lot 127). Jack inherited his father's interest in jade and stone carvings and continued to collect and regularly attended auctions. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Jack purchased jade carvings from several well-known dealers including Louis Joseph, Hugh Moss, Roger Keverne, Michael Gillingham, and Marchants. Jack was a particularly passionate collector of tactile jade carvings of animals.