A grey jade 'horse and monkey' group


Qianlong/JiaqingThe lustrous dark grey stone finely carved in the round with a recumbent horse depicted with a pair of hollowed ears encircled by finely detailed manes and a bushy tail, turning its head sharply toward a monkey climbing on its back with both hands on the horse's nose and ingeniously utilising the light grey inclusions, wood stand. 8.3cm (3 1/4in) long. (2).
|清乾隆/嘉慶 黑白玉雕馬上封侯擺件Provenance:An important French private collectionMarchant, LondonExhibited, Published and Illustrated:Marchant, 90th Anniversary Exhibition: Ninety Jades for 90 Years, London, 2015, no.60來源：法國重要私人舊藏倫敦Marchant展覽、出版及著錄：Marchant，《玉器九十，90週年特展》，倫敦，2015年，編號60The present jade carving would have been presented to an aspiring official, as the depiction of a horse ma, carrying a monkey, hou, on its back signifies the auspicious blessing of mashang fenghou, 'may you immediately be conferred the rank of marquis'.The master carver was able to delightfully conceive the present group, with the monkey gently reaching for the horse's face, and the horse with its head slightly bowed to allow the monkey's reach. See a brown and pale green jade horse and monkey group, formerly in the collection of Julius Lowenstein, illustrated by Marchant in their 70th anniversary exhibition of Post-Archaic Chinese Jades, 1995, p.66, no.92; see also a Ming dynasty example of related subject matter, from Dr. Yip Yee collection, illustrated in Chinese Jade Carving, Hong Kong, 1983, pp.166-167, no.152.Compare with a black and white jade 'horse and monkey' group, Qianlong, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot 3464; another white jade 'horse and monkey' group, Qianlong, is illustrated by R.Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no.184, and was later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1556.青灰玉質，雕臥馬造型，背負一猴，小猴曲頸、側目、雙手前伸，臥馬回首、頭微底，面部與小猴雙手微觸。整器雕工精細，設計生動靈巧。明清兩代玉雕多帶有吉祥之意，馬背上馱猴，寓意「馬上封侯」，具有仕途亨通，加官進爵之美好寓意，為當時饋贈官員仕途流行的題材。類似的例子，參看Marchant七十週年特展中一例青玉雕馬上封侯擺件，著錄於《Post-Archaic Chinese Jades》，1995年，頁66，編號92；另見明代玉雕馬上封侯一例，著錄於《中國玉雕》，香港藝術館，1983年，頁166-7，編號152。香港佳士得曾售出一件清乾隆黑白玉雕馬上封侯擺件，2014年11月26日，拍品編號3464；另見R.Kleiner曾著錄一件清乾隆白玉馬上封侯，《Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman》，香港，1996年，編號184，後售於香港佳士得，2007年11月27日，拍品編號1556。