Important Chinese Art including Imperial Jades from the De An Tang Collection

Important Chinese Art including Imperial Jades from the De An Tang Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 3626. A white jade 'elephant and boys' group Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉太平有象擺件.

Property from the De An Tang Collection 德安堂藏玉

A white jade 'elephant and boys' group Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 白玉太平有象擺件

Auction Closed

October 13, 04:27 AM GMT

Estimate

600,000 - 1,000,000 HKD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the De An Tang Collection

A white jade 'elephant and boys' group

Qing dynasty, Qianlong period

德安堂藏玉

清乾隆 白玉太平有象擺件


carved as an elephant standing foursquare with its head turned towards its right, caparisoned with a long tasselled saddle rug decorated with bats flying amidst clouds above crested waves and rockwork, set with a man and a foreigner kneeling atop the elephant supporting a hollow baluster treasure vase (baoping), the foreign with a brush in his hand, and the other holding the vessel by a ribbon, the stone of a milky-white tone with minor dark inclusions

17.8 cm

Sotheby's London, 5th December 1995, lot 101.


倫敦蘇富比1995年12月5日,編號101

A Romance with Jade: From the De An Tang Collection, Yongshougong, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 87.


《玉緣:德安堂藏玉》,永壽宮,故宮博物院,北京,2004年,編號87

Elephants (xiang) were a popular theme at the Qing court and are full of auspicious associations. The Chinese term figures in numerous rebuses to convey peace, prosperity and good fortune. Images of boys abound in Chinese art conveying wishes for many sons. The motif of boys washing an elephant also evokes a pun, the term xi xiang, 'washing an elephant' being considered as a homophone for ji xiang, 'lucky or propitious'.

A similar example is illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete collection of Chinese jades], vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, 1993, pl. 270; and another, but carved with one boy instead of two, was included in the 85th Anniversary Exhibition of Chinese Jades from Tang to Qing, S. Marchant & Son, London, cat. no. 82. See also a closely related example sold in these rooms, 8th April 2014, lot 3064.