SONG-YUAN DYNASTY (AD 960-1368)

The relaxed, naturalistic pose of the present water buffalo is similar to that of another jade figure illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum, 1995, pp. 370-71, no. 26.14, where it is dated Song dynasty or later. The naturalism of the pose can be compared to that of two stone paper weights in the shape of mythical, horned animals shown in a reclining position with heads raised that were found in a Southern Song tomb at Zhejiang Zhuji xian, p. 356, fig. 10. Water buffaloes were not highly represented in the repertoire of pre-Ming jade carvings, but may have become more popular during the Song and Yuan dynasties when ceramic and bronze water droppers in the shape of a water buffalo were popular. See, for example, the Longquan water dropper dated 13th-14th century illustrated in Jenny F. So, Chinese Jades from the Cissy and Robert Tang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015, p. 183, fig. 37.2.