Lot 3061. A superb yellow jade 'Horse' paperweight, 17th century; 8.6 cm., 3 3/8 in. Estimate 2,200,000 — 2,800,000 HKD. Lot sold 6,640,000 HKD (625,103 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

carved in the form of a recumbent horse turning its head back to nuzzle its left rear hoof, lying on its side with both hind legs turned up, its finely incised tail curled along the length of the lower right leg, the polished yellow stone of even tone with russet inclusions

Provenance: Christie's London, 21st October 1974, lot 71.
Sotheby's New York, 2nd December 1989, lot 202.
The Mary and George Bloch Collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23rd October 2005, lot 51.

Note: The soft rounded contours and impeccably smooth finish of the present carving accentuate the evenness and subtle colouration of the stone, which endow the figure with a befitting warmth and richness. The carver has skilfully blended an exaggerated pose with fleshy rounded forms to create a sense of naturalism and calm to the figure. Horses have long been associated with power and wealth in Chinese history. The style in which this figure has been carved embodies the craftsman’s aim to capture more than the mere physical likeness but also the innate strength of the animal through its deliberately dramatized poses, which invoke a moment of time or a hidden narrative. Such small jade animal sculptures, generally carved in a seated or reclining pose to maximise the full usage of the pebble, were made for the scholar’s studio and used as paperweights.

A related carving, from the collection of Dr Ip Yee, was included in the exhibition Chinese Jade Carving, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1983, cat. no. 163; and two horses in related poses, attributed to the Ming dynasty, were sold in our London rooms, one on 7th June 1994, lot 104, and the other, from the collection of Lord Arlington, 29th November 1993 lot 30.

Compare a small reclining figure of a horse attributed to the same period, carved in a similar style from a yellow and russet stone, from the Pine, Water and Stone Retreat collection, included in the exhibition Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, lot 155, and sold twice in these rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 886, and 8th April 2013, lot 133; and another in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, illustrated in James C.S. Lin, The Immortal Stone, London, 2009, pl. 47. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 April 2014