Details
A FINELY CARVED AND RARE WHITE AND RUSSET JADE 'MYTHICAL BEAST' WATER DROPPER
MING DYNASTY
Finely carved as a dragon-headed tortoise, the ferocious beast with a curled mane and bushy eyebrows above a growling grimace, with scales on his neck and each of his powerful legs, the angular body with a lozenge-patterned shell before a bushy tail, the hollowed body with an oval cover pierced to receive the slender tubular water dropper, the stone of translucent cream tone suffused with russet veins concentrating towards the beast's head, the base carved with the seal mark Yong Shou zhi Bao within a double square (treasure of unending longevity)--5in. (12.5cm.) long
MING DYNASTY
Finely carved as a dragon-headed tortoise, the ferocious beast with a curled mane and bushy eyebrows above a growling grimace, with scales on his neck and each of his powerful legs, the angular body with a lozenge-patterned shell before a bushy tail, the hollowed body with an oval cover pierced to receive the slender tubular water dropper, the stone of translucent cream tone suffused with russet veins concentrating towards the beast's head, the base carved with the seal mark Yong Shou zhi Bao within a double square (treasure of unending longevity)--5in. (12.5cm.) long
Provenance
Sir Percival and Lady David
Exhibited
Oriental Ceramic Society special exhibition, Arts of the Ming Dynasty, 1957, Catalogue, no. 334