A WHITE JADE 'QUAIL AND MILLET' GROUP QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

finely worked of recumbent form with its clawed feet tucked underneath its body, the head looking forward, grasping a leafy spray of millet and lingzhi in its beak, the body finely incised with neat plumage, the round pebble of a pale greyish-white tone

T.Y. King & Co., Hong Kong, 1967.
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1967 (£28:8:6)
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1967 (£48).

This carving conveys the wish for peace and longevity. The quail and millet together form the rebus ‘suisui ping’an’, meaning ‘May you have peace year after year’, while the lingzhi is a symbol of longevity.

A related carving was sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1975, lot 40; another, from the Harriet W. Henderson collection, was sold in our New York rooms, 16th September 2008, lot 70; and a third, modelled with two quails grasping a millet branch in their beaks, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 81.

Compare also jade boxes in the form of quails, such as one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji. Qing [Complete collection of Chinese jades. Qing dynasty], vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 106.