MING DYNASTY OR EARLIER (1368-1644)

A small number of jade carvings of hounds in this posture have been published, dated from the Tang dynasty to the Ming dynasty. Compare with a yellow and black jade carving in this position but with raised head from the Dr. Arthur Sackler collection, dated to the Tang Dynasty, included in the exhibition organized by The Arts Council of Great Britain and the Oriental Ceramic Society, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages, 1975, no. 204. Another yellow jade hound from the Joan Barrow, Lord and Lady Cunliffe and Mary and George Bloch Collections, most recently catalogued as Yuan/Ming dynasty, is illustrated in Dr. Newton's Zoo, Bluett & Sons, Ltd., London, 1981, no. 22 and was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 20. A white jade hound in this posture catalogued as Ming or earlier was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 April 1997, lot 584. A russet jade male hound from the W.P. Chung Collection, dating to the Song dynasty was included in the Min Chiu Society and Hong Kong Museum of Art joint exhibition, Chinese Jade Carving, 1983, no. 136. A last carving dated to the Song dynasty, where the hound looks back at its haunches is illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 336, no. 26:10, where Rawson states that jade hounds, such as the present lot, may have been worn by individuals who 'wished to be known for their prowess in hunting'.