Note: The charm of the subject and three-dimensionality of the present creature is accentuated by the natural russet-coloured inclusions of the skin of the stone. This skilful incorporation of the coloured skin of the jade pebble not only serves an aesthetic purpose but also highlights the carver's ability to minimise wastage of the precious stone. The solidity of the elephant modelled in the round embodies the strength, power and wisdom it symbolises and compliments the fine detail of its facial features and saddle cloth as well as the playfulness of the clambering boy.

See a similarly carved figure of an elephant surmounted by a boy holding a ruyi sceptre, from the Richard J. Robertson collection, sold at Christie's New York, 28th March 1996, lot 1; and another, but with the boy holding a crop, sold in our New York rooms, 18th September 1996, lot 3. Compare also a carving of two boys climbing and washing an elephant in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware III, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 98; another, also incorporating the natural russet colourings, in the De An Tang collection, included in the exhibition A Romance with Jade. From the De An Tang Collection, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 89; and a third example sold at Christie's New York, 23rd March 1995, lot 207.

The elephant is associated with the mythical Emperor Shun, one of the twenty-four paragons of filial piety, and is also the mount for the Buddhist deity Samantabhadra. A boy climbing or riding an elephant symbolises the wish for good fortune.