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Lot Essay
According to Ming authors Gao Lian and Wen Zhenheng, such small jade animal carvings, usually in a reclining or seating pose, were made for the scholar's studio and regularly used as paperweights.
Horses have long been associated with power and wealth in Chinese history. The carver finely worked the stone in order to give a realistic representation of the horse, and to embody a powerful image of the animal through its strong and muscular body.
See a similar example in the British Museum, London, illustrated in J.Rawson Chinese jade: from the Neolith, London, 1995 ; and a larger example from the Qing dynasty sold by Christie's Paris, 13th June 2013, lot 17.
Horses have long been associated with power and wealth in Chinese history. The carver finely worked the stone in order to give a realistic representation of the horse, and to embody a powerful image of the animal through its strong and muscular body.
See a similar example in the British Museum, London, illustrated in J.Rawson Chinese jade: from the Neolith, London, 1995 ; and a larger example from the Qing dynasty sold by Christie's Paris, 13th June 2013, lot 17.