Rare Petit buffle en jade Dynastie Shang - Dynastie des Zhou Occidentaux, ca. 1100-950 avant J.-C.

représenté allongé avec une tête large et stylisée, le museau percé, les cornes sculptées dans la partie noire de la pierre, le corps détaillé et bombé d'un côté, plat de l'autre, le jade de couleur blanche opaque rehaussée de noir

Discovered in Anyang, Henan (according to Max Loehr's notes).
Dr. Otto Burchard (1892-1965), Beijing (according to Max Loehr's notes).
Acquired in Beijing, April 1944 (according to Max Loehr's notes).
Collection of Prof. Max Loehr (1903-1988).
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1993.

Early Chinese Jades. A Loan Exhibition Presented by the Museum of Art, University of Michigan, Alumni Memorial Hall, Ann Arbor, March 22 through April 22, 1953, no. 70.
Chinese Archaic Jades and Bronzes from the Estate of Professor Max Loehr and Others, J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1993, no. 57.

Max Loehr, Early Chinese Jades. A Loan Exhibition Presented by the Museum of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1953, cat. no. 70.
J. J. Lally & Co., Chinese Archaic Jades and Bronzes from the Estate of Professor Max Loehr and Others, New York, 1993, cat. no. 57.

There is a tiny old frit to the right rear hoof and a tiny old frit to the edge between the two horns. There are traces of earth in the recessed parts of the carving. There are cutting marks to the underside of the animal. The stone is well polished and has a beauticul lustruous surface. The colour is of a more whitish tone than the catalogue illustration suggests.
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Small pendants or ornaments in the form of animals form a major category of jades in the Shang period and can be found in many of the major burials of high-ranking individuals. Among them, small carvings of bovines are rare. The present example is notable for its quite elaborate and three-dimensional carving. As noted by Jessica Rawson, it may be at the beginning of a tradition as these animal carvings became progressively flattened, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade. From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp. 42-43. The buffalo itself may have been inspired by or copied from bronzes from the south and southwest.