Chinese Carved Ming Dynasty Seated Horse. The Color Is A Deep Celadon With Splashes Of Brown. Detailed Reins, Saddle And Hair With A Tail Curled To The Side. Finely Carved With Sharp Detail And Very Soft Polish And Patina. Approximately 3 1/2" Long x 1 5/8" High.
For A Similar Example:
Victor Shaw Collection, Chinese Jades From Han To Ching, Asia House Gallery, Exhibition, 1980, Catalog Plate 66.
Recumbent Horse - Mottled Greenish Gray With Brown Markings; Yuan - Ming; Height 47mm; Length: 90mm; Width: 24mm. From The Victor Shaw Collection.
A stocky Mongolian pony, with thick neck, lies with its four legs up beneath it. Its head is arched and it wears a bridle whose reins are attached to an elaborate saddle with fringed blanket beneath. The mane is striated, the ears drawn forward, the eyes large and globular, the nostrils small. The tail and hoofs are well incised. The base is flat.
Stylistically this horse can be compared with a pottery horse and rider of the yuan period found in Inner Mongolia (Nei-meng-ku Tzu-chih-ch'u Wen-wu-kung-tso-tui, Nei-meng-ku Ch'u-t'u Wen-wu Hsuan-chi, P. 141, FIG. 182). The pattern of mountains arising out of the sea on the side of the saddle, a rebus for longevity mountains (in a) sea of blessing," indicates a possible Ming date. It is most unusual to find a piece of a comparatively late period with a flat base.
For Another Similar Example:
Christies Hong Kong. January 19, 1988. Lot #412.
For Another Similar Example:
Christies Hong Kong. January 13, 1987. Lot #284.
For A Similar Jade Horse: Christie's New York - Fine Chinese Ceramic And Works Of Art March 20-21, 2014 Sale #2830, Lot #2479 Which Realized $9,375USD.
Lot Description
A GREYISH-WHITE JADE CARVING OF A HORSE
YUAN/MING DYNASTY, 13TH-15TH CENTURY
The recumbent horse is carved saddled with all four legs tucked under its belly and head bowed. The stone is of greyish-white tone with minor russet and brown inclusions.
3½ in. (9 cm.) long, fitted stand
Provenance
Wu Shuzhen (Wu Shu-chen, b. 1938) Collection, San Francisco.
Orientations Gallery, Monterey, California.
For A Similar Example:
Sotheby's Hong Kong - CHINA / 5000 YEARS - November 30, 2021 - Lot #472:
DESCRIPTION
Property from the collection of Quincy Chuang 莊貴侖收藏
A celadon and russet jade figure of a horse,
Ming dynasty 明 青玉臥馬 wood stand 7 cm
PROVENANCE
Collection of Victor Shaw, Hong Kong and Vancouver.
Christie's Hong Kong, 23rd March 1993, lot 1015.
邵維錫收藏，香港及溫哥華
香港佳士得1993年3月23日，編號1015
EXHIBITED
James C.Y. Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1980, cat. no. 66.
屈志仁，《Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing》，亞洲協會，紐約，1980年，編號66
Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 HKD
Lot sold: 107,100HKD - 13,745.73USD
