A rock crystal 'three rams' group, 18th-19th century. Photo courtesy Bonhams.

The clear gleaming stone carved as a recumbent ram with two long curling horns and smiling mouth, one lamb reclining on the larger ram's back while a second lamb rests behind its left haunch, wood stand. 8.5cm (3 3/8in) long (2). Sold for £10,625 (€12,744)

Provenance: Henry Canova Vollam Morton, FRSL, better known as H.V. Morton (1892-1979), a journalist and pioneer travel writer who famously was the Daily Express correspondent during the coverage of the opening of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in Egypt.
Thence by direct descent and bequest to the present owner.

The image of the sheep or goat, 羊 yang, appeared as early as the Han Dynasty as a pun for 祥 xiang meaning 'auspicious' or 'lucky'. By the Qing period, the image of sheep had become heavily associated with 陽 yang, meaning the sun, and the warm, positive or masculine force in Chinese cosmology.

The sheep imagery then developed into three sheep, 三羊 sanyang, often with three boys 三陽 sanyang, as a reference to the favourable arrival of spring, since the phrase 三陽開泰 sanyang kai tai, refers to the period between the winter solstice and the New Year. This was the period when the warm yang energy is emergent, as detailed in the ancient Chinese classic the Yijing, or Book of Changes.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART. London, New Bond Street. 7 Nov 2013 - www.bonhams.com