A fine and rare white jade carving of a qilin


18th century Well carved as a mythical beast with twin horns reaching down its back towards a stylised lotus-like blossom issuing from a leafy stem gripped in its mouth, the front legs raised to show the characteristic hooves, the back legs tucked underneath the body beside the thickly curling tail. 13.3cm (5¼in) long.
|十八世紀 青玉雕麒麟銜牡丹擺件Provenance:A distinguished English private collection來源：英國顯赫私人收藏The present lot is a testament to the finest quality of virtuoso jade workmanship during the height of the Qing dynasty. The crisp treatment of the leaves and petals and on the finely incised thickly curling tail, serves to highlight the smoothly carved and even-toned stone of the body of the mythical beast. The representation of the qilin is reflective of Qing taste and sensibilities. Whereas earlier representations of mythical beasts tended to exaggerate their grotesque, fearsome and mysterious nature, particularly in the context of tomb objects as guardian spirits, by the 18th century such beasts had become a popular feature of the scholar's desk, with a more secular and symbolic-decorative function. This shift can be seen in the present lot in its the charming smile, its amusing nose carved in imitation of a bat, and the almost coquettishly raised left foreleg.Compare with a pale green jade qilin, Qing dynasty, in Beijing Art Museum, which is illustrated in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series:Jades, Beijing, 1999, pl.220, p.189; Compare also with a white jade carving of a qilin, 17th/18th century, in The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, illustrated by J.C.S.Lin, The Immortal Stone: Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, 2009, no.44. 青玉質，青中透白，質透瑩，圓雕麒麟臥像，麒麟寬口薄唇，如意鼻，圓鼓目，鹿角後伏，口銜牡丹拖曳兩側，牡丹枝似藤蔓，葉若葫蘆，馬蹄，牛身，背脊呈坡棱，馬尾，卷散如團雲。 麒麟為四靈之一，《禮記》：「麟鳳龜龍，謂之四靈」且「麟以為畜，故獸不狘」，是為穩定林中秩序的靈獸。聖人降生，麒麟也會出現。韓愈著《獲麟解》有言：「麟之出，必有聖人在乎位，麟為聖人出焉。」明清以來，麒麟成為世俗化的裝飾，宮廷民間皆以為之吉祥物。北京市藝術博物館藏一件清代青玉雕瑞獸與本件神形頗似，為單角銜靈芝瑞獸，見《北京文物精粹大系玉器卷》，北京，1999年，圖版220，頁189。英國劍橋大學菲茨威廉博物館藏一件十七或十八世紀白玉雕麒麟，亦資比較，見J.C.S.Lin著，《The Immortal Stone: Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Twentieth Century》，劍橋，2009年，編號44。