Lot 8017. A rare jade carving of a camel, Song dynasty (960-1279); 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm.) long. Estimate: HK$1,200,000.00 - HK$1,800,000.00 USD 153,810 - USD 230,715). Unsold. © Christie's Image Ltd 2018.

The recumbent animal is depicted with head turned over its back, the face delicately carved, the body characterised by two gently ridged humps and softly polished vertebrae. The stone is of an opaque greyish-brown tone with mottling and dark veining. 

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby’s New York, 31 May 1994, lot 15.

Note: Jade camels from the Tang and Song dynasties are often depicted recumbent with a coiled neck, like the present carving. This aligns with the stylistic change seen on Song dynasty art when animal representations became much more naturalistic. A number of examples modelled in a similar posture with the animal straining its neck to lick or nibble its back or hoof, dated to the Tang or Song dynasty, are known, including one dated Tang dynasty or later in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Ming Wilson, Chinese Jades, London, 1997, no. 74; another dated Tang dynasty in the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by James Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch’ing, New York, 1980, p. 61, no. 39; and one from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull, dating to the Tang dynasty or later, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 6 December 1983, lot 212.

Compare also to a yellow jade mythical beast with camel humps and similar posture as the present piece, dating to the Song dynasty, in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Jadeware (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, no.58.