A SMALL PALE GREY AND BROWN JADE FIGURE OF ZHOU YANZI

MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Details

A SMALL PALE GREY AND BROWN JADE FIGURE OF ZHOU YANZI
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
The boy, Zhou Yanzi, is shown holding a bucket as he crouches beneath a deer skin that is draped over his back and head. The deer skin is highlighted in dark brown and is carved with star markings as well as detailed with the head and the antlers.
1 ¾ in. (4.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in Hong Kong, 1950s, and thence by descent within the family.
The Studio of the Clear Garden.

Lot Essay

Jade carvings of Zhou Yanzi represent filial piety. This is based on a Chinese folk tale of a boy named Zhou Yanzi who draped himself with a deer skin in order to join a deer herd and obtain milk for his ailing father.

A related jade figure of Zhou Yanzi is illustrated in Post-Archaic Chinese Jades from Private Collections, S. Marchant and Son, London, 2000, no. 31, and another was sold at Christie's London, 11 May 2015, lot 20.

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