CHINE, DYNASTIE QING (1644-1911)

Details

QILIN EN JADE CELADON PALE
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING (1644-1911)
Il est représenté couché, les pattes repliées, la tête tournée sur le côté, la queue enroulée. Il tient dans sa gueule une tige de lingzhi de laquelle émergent des manuscrits.
Longueur: 16 cm. (6 3/8 in.), socle

Further details

A PALE CELADON 'QILIN AND BOOKS' CARVING
CHINA, QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

Brought to you by

Tiphaine Nicoul

tnicoul@christies.com +33 1 40 76 83 75

Lot Essay

The auspicious image of a qilin bearing books is a reference to the legend of the birth of Confucious, according to which a qilin with books on its back announced Confucious as a king without crown in the Zhou dynasty. See a very similar example of a jade qilin carrying books on its back in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 114, pl. 94.

More from Art d'Asie

View All