SOUTHERN SONG-MING DYNASTY, 13TH-15TH CENTURY

Camels are part of the Chinese repertoire of animals that are typically depicted in a seated or resting position. Associated with the opening of the Silk Road during the Han dynasty, they became popular during the Tang dynasty when pottery representations of camels either standing or seated were included amongst the figures that were placed in tombs. They subsequently enjoyed popularity again under the Mongols of the Yuan dynasty.

A yellow jade camel of comparable size (10.2 cm.) and dated to the Song dynasty is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 41 - Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 68, pl. 58. As with the present figure, the head is turned to the side and the body is softly contoured. A light green and brown jade camel of comparable size (9.5 cm.) but shown with head raised and facing forward, in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is illustrated by Jessica Rawson in “Chinese Jade throughout the ages”, T.O.C.S., vol. 40, 1973-75, p. 83, no. 249, where it is dated Song dynasty. See, also, the white jade camel shown in a similar recumbent position with head turned illustrated by Jessica Rawson in Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 369, no. 26:12, where it is dated Song dynasty or later.