MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE YELLOW AND RUSSET JADE 'BUFFALO AND BOY' GROUP
MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
The recumbent buffalo is carved with a boy playfully clambering onto its back. The animal is further detailed with a rope tied through its nostrils and over its back. The stone is of a creamy-yellow tone with some brownish-red russet areas.
3 ¾ in. (9.5 cm.) long

Provenance

With Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London.
From the collection of a distinguished private European collector, acquired in London in the 1960s.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Xichu CC Wang

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Lot Essay

The image of a boy with a buffalo was extremely popular and auspicious. In the catalogue entry for an earlier jade carving of a boy and buffalo in James C. Y. Watt, Chinese Jades From Han to Ch'ing, no. 47, Watt writes that "Boys riding on ch'ing-pai porcelain water-droppers of the Yuan period often hold ears of rice, ho, in their hands, a pun for ho meaning harmony."

A yellow and russet jade carving of a deer using a very similar stone was sold in Christies Hong Kong from the Gerald Godfrey collection, 30 October 1995, lot 858.

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