A FINELY CARVED WHITE JADE ELEPHANT

ANOTHER PROPERTY

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A FINELY CARVED WHITE JADE ELEPHANT
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Finely modelled as an elephant standing foursquare with its head turned and its trunk outstretched towards one side, richly ornamented in a jewelled harness with beaded tassels and a saddle cloth elaborately carved in shallow relief with bats in flight amidst swirling clouds above waves crashing against rocks, the upper layer with foliate scrolls, supporting on its back a baluster vase decorated with a band of taotie masks and flanked by animal-mask loop handles suspending loose rings, the stone of an even white tone with small areas of opaque inclusions
7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Compare with another 18th century celadon jade carving of an elephant with two boys, its saddle also richly decorated, illustrated by R. Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 170; and another, also with two boys and supporting a vase on the elephant's back, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, vol. 6, pl. 270.

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