A FINE WHITE JADE BUFFALO AND BOY GROUP

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION

Details

A FINE WHITE JADE BUFFALO AND BOY GROUP
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Naturalistically rendered in the round to depict a young boy with his head raised in a playful expression, wearing a loose tunic over wide trousers exposing the bare feet, hanging on his back a wide brimmed straw hat fastened around his neck, clambering gingerly onto the back of a recumbent buffalo, supporting himself with one hand on the buffalo horn and the other hand clutched to a long rope secured to the buffalo's nostrils, the animal with its head turned toward its tail and the four legs tucked beside its body, the stone of even tone with a slight celadon tinge and areas of opaque inclusions
6 in. (15.2 cm.) long, box

Lot Essay

Previously sold in Hong Kong, 18 May 1989, lot 748.

The 'boy and buffalo' theme first prevailed in the Yuan period as Qingbai ceramic water droppers, according to J. Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing, no. 46. The imagery also appeared in jade carvings, and prevailed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Compare to a small white jade example (6 cm. long) from the Gerald Godfrey Collection, sold in these Rooms, 30 October 1995, lot 893.

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