Lot 1508. A rare white, grey and russet jade mountain, 18th century; 6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 250,000 - USD 350,000. Price realised USD 458,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011.

Well carved from a large pebble of rounded triangular section, on one side a sage holding a staff peers upwards at an overhanging tree branch projecting from the rock face of the vertical mountain, the ledge on which he stands flanked by trees carved in openwork, the pine trees carved from the grey areas of the stone, the wutong tree highlighted by russet skin as are other areas of the mountain on the reverse where two cranes stand beneath a pine tree beside a rushing stream, with a whirlpool carved in the countersunk center of the rock-carved base, wood stand, box. 

Provenance: Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 25 November 1987, lot 403.
Christie's, Hong Kong, Important Chinese Jades from the Personal Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, 28 November 2006, lot 1370.

Literature: 'A Collection of Chinese Carved Jade', Lapidary Journal, June 1979, cover illustration.
P. Desautels, The Jade Kingdom, New York, 1986, pl. 7.
R. Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 131.

Exhibited: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chinese Jade from Southern California Collections, 1977, no. 34.
Christie's, New York, 13 - 26 March 2001.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 2003 - December 2004.

Note: The carver has made superb use of the differing colors in the stone to create a lively composition. The boulder is very deeply carved, resulting in a stage-like platform at the front of the carving which draws the viewer into the intimate setting.

Compare the composition of the present boulder with another of celadon tone, also carved with a lone sage, and with the addition of an inscribed poem describing the scene, from the Seattle Art Museum, illustrated by Geoffrey Wills, Jade of the East, New York, 1972, fig. 58.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part I and Part II Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 24 March 2011