Lot 3751. A calcified jade carving of a deer group, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 11.3 cm., 4 3/4  in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD. Lot sold 625,000 HKD. © Sotheby's

finely carved in the form of a recumbent deer with its legs tucked beneath its body and a recumbent fawn held tight, the deer depicted grasping in its mouth a long leafy lingzhi spray extending over the body of the fawn, the calcified stone of pale buff colour accentuated with faint grey streaks and finished with a lustrous polish.

Note: This double deer group is notable for the vitality and naturalism of the carving. Compare a related group of two reclining deer, from the collection of Elizabeth F. Wharton, sold in our New York rooms, 15th June 1983, lot 107, and again at Christie’s New York, 24th March 2011, lot 1538; and another in the Tianjin Museum, Tianjin, illustrated in Jade Wares Collected by the Tianjin Museum, Beijing, 2012, pl. 203.