18th century Exquisitely carved in the round as a large water buffalo lying placidly on its stomach with four legs bent underneath and the head turned to the left towards a smaller buffalo, the gracefully curved horns flanking the flat forehead incised with a whorl of hair, the neck skilfully detailed with an undulating dewlap, the ear edges and the tail finely detailed with hair markings, the smaller buffalo with its head raised playfully facing the larger buffalo, the smoothly-polished stone of even greenish-white tone with speckled inclusions. 12.5cm (4 7/8in) wide.Footnotes十八世紀 青白玉雕子母牛擺件 Skilfully carved from a single pebble of semi-translucent and evenly toned jade, this buffalo group represents superb craftsmanship in the simple and elegant form, yet playfully rendered with a younger buffalo and detailed in its naturalistic contours, the ribbed horns, undulating dewlap and well-detailed legs. The present theme depicting a buffalo with its young is extremely rare, as boy and buffalo groups are more common as Qing dynasty jade carvings, see an example of white jade 'boy and buffalo' group in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Jade 9 Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, no.135. Another example with the boy standing beside a recumbent buffalo, 18th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection, New York, 2015, no.20. Another similar example in the Beijing Art Museum, with a boy holding a flute, his hand on the horn of the water buffalo, is illustrated in Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series, Jades, Beijing, 2002, p.190, no.221. See also a white jade buffalo and boy, Qianlong, from the collection of Anthony K.W. Cheung, illustrated in Virtuous Treasures, Chinese Jade for the Scholars Table, Hong Kong, 2007, pp.170-171, no.96. Early jade carvings are closer in form and function to the imaginary protectors carved in stone, which may reflect jade's traditional association with Immortality and spiritual power. It is not until the Song period that jade became more generally used as a material for sculpting the creatures of daily life, and jade's use was not restricted to assisting in the afterlife. Such jade carvings tend to have softer, more appealing and realistic features, and often a sense of playfulness such as in the present lot. As a familiar beast of the fields, the water buffalo underpinned rice production and the rural economy. As such it is emblematic of agriculture and springtime and represents strength, endurance, dedication to hard work, prosperity and tranquillity. It is also used in artistic representations, particularly in Chinese paintings, to evoke a bucolic, idealised existence in the countryside. This, in turn, feeds into a more mythical or spiritual side to the buffalo, recalling both Buddhist and Daoist concerns with simplicity and retreat, and the founder of Daoism, the philosopher Laozi, who departed from the borders of the known world on a buffalo. 白玉偏青，玉質溫潤，打磨光澤，圓雕一大水牛屈膝而臥，側首而望，牛角有凸起，耳沿、牛尾以近蹄處均飾陰線刻細毛紋。大牛身後一小牛，翹首望向大牛，畫面靈動可愛，大牛四蹄藏於身下，尾端向左側前擺，玉牛造型輪廓寫實，尤其是牛頸部皺起皮膚的雕刻，刻畫生動逼真。 以子母牛為題材的玉雕擺件極為少見，一般多見童子牡牛相關的題材，如北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件清代青玉童子騎牛，尺寸稍小，但題材與本品類似，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系玉器篇9 清》，北京，2011年，頁145，編號135。紐約大都會博物館藏一件十八世紀青白玉雕童子牧牛，為Heber R. Bishop在1902年捐贈，見《A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection》，2015年，編號20。 北京藝術博物館藏一件清代青白玉雕牧童戲牛擺件，亦可資比較，見《北京文物精粹大系：玉器卷》，北京，2002年，頁190，編號221；香港鍾棋偉先生亦藏有一件清乾隆白玉牧牛童子，著錄於許建勳、彭綺雲編，《閣有天珍：中國文房玉雕》，香港大學美術博物館，2007年，頁170-171，編號96。 動物形態在中國古代藝術中的表現源遠流長，上至周朝及漢代，下自唐代開始便有盛行，但早期動物雕塑多為象征人們生前家庭富足的陪葬冥器，亦有守護意義。直至宋代，寫實題材成為主流，動物玉雕變為文人高士的世俗雅玩，而宮廷中也出現類似寫實的玉雕，用於文房陳設。 中國以農立國，牛與中華民族生存與發展的關係密切，自古有不解之緣。在農業發展過程特別是春耕中扮演重要角色，並且是智慧、勤勞、忠誠以及刻苦的象徵。在中國美術史中，牛也常常被賦予宗教或祭祀的色彩。特別在中國繪畫中，常見到牛為神仙道士的坐騎，《史記·老子韓非列傳》中便有對老子與其坐騎青牛的記載。另外，古人認為牛擁有「五行」中土屬性和水屬性的神力。是風調雨順、國泰民安的象徵。五行中講水能生木，所以牛的耕作能促進農作物生長，土又能克水，所以古人們在治水之後，常設置銅牛、鐵牛以鎮水魔，因此牛在中華文明中亦有震懾、守護之象徵。而此類童子牧牛題材，在這些象徵的基礎上，又增添幾分生活情趣。