Details
A FINELY CARVED WHITE JADE 'THREE RAMS' GROUP
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Powerfully carved in the round, depicting two young rams playfully clambering on the back, resting beside an adult, the largest ram emiting a wispy cloud scroll from its mouth, gathering to support a yin-yang symbol floating on its back, the well-polished translucent stone of an even white tone with small areas of russet skin and opaque inclusions
5 5/8 in. (14.4 cm.) long, stand

Provenance
Victor Topper, Toronto, Canada

Literature
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 194
Exhibited
Christie's New York, 13-26 March 2001
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 2003 - December 2004

Lot Essay

The ram is a symbol of filial piety, kindness and patience. The three rams, san yang, are also an auspicious motif, related both to the sun and to male children, as they provide a rebus for san yang kai tai, the opening up of the new growth in spring, which in turn symbolises happiness and good fortune.

Compare with three jade groups of the three rams in the Palace Museum, Beijing, one illustrated in Jadeware (III), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 88 (fig. 1); and the other two smaller groups illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, vol. 6, pls. 269 and 307; one in the Tianjin Municipal Museum, illustrated in Cang Yu, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 216; a group included in S. Marchant & Son's 80th Anniversary Exhibition, Chinese Jades from Han to Qing, London, 2005, Catalogue no. 74; another from the Hartman Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1418; and another also sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 300 Years of Jade, 30 October 2000, lot 695.

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