A rare red coralloid agate figure of a recumbent deer, Song dynasty | 宋 瑪瑙臥鹿形鎮紙

Sensitively modelled in the round with gentle facial features, this charming piece is notable for the high-quality agate stone from which it has been fashioned, which displays attractive natural inclusions that have been skilfully incorporated to resemble the spots of the deer’s fur. Agate is one of several hardstones that were valued as much as the finest quality jade and was treasured for its beautiful colouration and translucence. The stone was imported through the Silk Road; thus, while a small number of agate items have been unearthed in tombs predating the 9th century, it was during the Tang dynasty when the Silk Road flourished that agate began to arrive on a larger scale.

No other closely related agate figure appears to have been published; compare an agate rython excavated from Hejiacun, Xi’an, now in the Shaanxi Museum, Xi’an, illustrated in Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang Hoard, Beijing, 2003, pl. 8. Jade carvings of deer modelled in reclining poses, including one attributed to the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 5, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, pl. 245; and another attributed to the Song to Yuan dynasties, from the collection of Victor Shaw, included in the exhibition Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1980, cat. no. 44.