A WHITE AND RUSSET JADE 'DOUBLE BADGER' GROUP18th century The creatures finely carved facing each other, each grasping one end of a lingzhi stem in its mouth, the stone of a pale even white tone with soft polish and small russet inclusions. 7.5cm (3in) wide. 十八世紀 玉雕雙獾 Provenance : Sir Michael Oppenheimer (3rd Baronet, 1924-2020) and Lady Helen Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022), and thence by descent 來源 ：Michael Oppenheimer 爵士（三代從男爵，1924-2020年）與Helen Oppenheimer爵士夫人（1926-2022年）舊藏，並由後人保存迄今 The collection belonged to Sir Michael and Lady Oppenheimer DD (3rd Baronet, 1924-2020). Sir Michael's maternal grandparents were Sir Robert Grenville Harvey, 2nd Baronet (1856-1931) and Lady Emily Blanche Harvey (1872-1935) of Langley Park, Buckinghamshire. The Chinese art collection can be, at least in part, traced back to Langley Park, Buckinghamshire, home to the Harvey Baronets from 1788 until 1945, as demonstrated in a pre-1945 photograph showing Lot 122, the cloisonné enamel tripod 'elephant' incense burner, Qianlong. Sir Michael Oppenheimer's paternal family was the well-known South African mining family. The baronetcy was created in 1921 for Bernard Oppenheimer, Chairman of the South African Diamond Corporation for setting up diamond sorting factories to employ wounded ex-servicemen after the First World War. The family has been involved with De Beers over many decades. Lady Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022) was a distinguished moral and philosophical theologian, with a particular interest in the ethics pertaining to personal relations. The Chinese word for badger, 獾 huan , is homophone with the word for happiness, 歡 huan . In this case, a pair of badgers, 雙獾 shuanghuan , stands for conjugal joy, an intimacy that is skilfully portrayed by the carver in posing the two animal gently entwined together. pare a related white jade 'double badger' group from the Tuyet Nguyet Collection, illustrated by H.K.F.Hui and T.Y.Pang, Virtuous Treasures: Chinese Jades for the Scholar's Table , Hong Kong, 2007, no.103. A related white jade 'double badger' group, 18th century, was sold at Hong Kong, 27 November 2014, lot 106.