Man grooming a horse, 1700s, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Nephrite. H. 3 3/4 in x W. 6 1/4 in x D. 3 1/2 in, H. 9.5 cm x W. 15.9 cm x D. 8.9 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60J388 © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

A cheerful man is grooming his horse, while his right hand holds the halter. The horse stands with its head turned toward the groom; its long neck and short stocky legs identify it as a Mongolian horse. The groom wears a short vest; his hat that harks back to the Tang dynasty pottery grooms. The group rests on a rocky base that resembles the bamboo carvings of the Ming dynasty. There has been much discussion about this base.

d'Argencé, who dated this piece to the Ming period, believed that Ming jade carvers invented a new flat and roughly rectangular base as a protective device to support their standing figurines, and that this type of little "landscape" was the prototype of the jade mountains of subsequent periods. Watt agreed with this Ming dynasty dating. Yang Boda, however, felt that this is an archaistic piece made in the 1700s.