A VERY RARE WHITE AND RUSSET JADE 'SCHOLAR, MONKEY AND HORSE' GROUP, LATE MING DYNASTY

C.T. Loo, New York, 19th April 1951.

Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

來源

盧芹齋，紐約，1951年4月19日

史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

This charming carving is highly unusual in its combination of a monkey on a horse and two figures. While carvings of a monkey and horse, a figure with a horse and a scholar and boy are well known, no other piece that fuses all four elements appear to have been published. The sensitive rendering of each figure in the round, the intricate details, and variety of textures attest to the carver's skill and ability to capture such a complex scene in jade.

Compare a similarly fashioned sculpture of a man grooming a horse, also on a rocky base, from the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, included in the exhibition, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing, Asia Society, New York, 1980, cat. no. 67, where it is noted that the rock base is significant for dating as 'such "landscaped" stands do tend to place jade carvings in the Ming period' (p. 84). See also a carving of three immortals with two boys, a deer and a crane, all standing on a rock base, sold in these rooms, 3rd June 1992, lot 48; one of a monkey in front of a standing horse tied to a post, sold at Bonhams London, 8th November 2018, lot 184; and another, but attributed to the Qianlong period, sold at Christie's London, 17th May 2013, lot 1390.

The depiction of a monkey atop a horse forms the rebus ma shang feng hou, conveying the wish for a speedy promotion. Additionally, as Terese Tse Bartholomew notes in Hidden Meanings: Symbolism in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 118, the combination of a monkey with a horse also stems from an ancient Indian belief that monkeys could prevent horses from falling ill, as seen in early agricultural guidebooks such as Han E's Essential Sishi zuanyao / Notes for the Four Seasons and Li Shizhen's Compendium of Bencao gangmu / Materia Medica. 

本品擺件，雕高士、童子、靈猴及駿馬，尤為罕見，目前尚未見它例，疑為孤品。本品圓雕細膩，仔細入微，營造各種質感栩栩如生，構圖精密，盡見匠工造詣。

比較一風格相近例，雕馬及馬僮，亦作相類山石底，出自 Avery Brundage 收藏，現存於舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，曾展於《Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing》，亞洲協會，紐約，1980年，編號67，展覽圖錄論述，此類山石底為斷代關鍵，此類底的玉雕多數可斷代至明（見頁84）。另比一例，雕三位仙人與童子二人及鶴鹿，亦為山石底，售於紐約蘇富比1992年6月3日，編號48；再比一例，雕靈猴駿馬，售於倫敦邦瀚斯2018年11月8日，編號 184；亦見一例，斷代乾隆，售於倫敦佳士得2013年5月17日，編號1390。

馬上封侯紋飾，刻劃靈猴坐於馬背，祝願官運亨通，見謝瑞華，《中國吉祥圖案》，舊金山，2006年，頁118之論述。另有古印度傳說，靈猴能辟馬病，韓鄂之《四時纂要》、李時珍之《本草綱目》等均有敘述。