Lot 3638. An exquisite and very rare white jade horse group, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.) long. Estimate HKD 4,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000. Price Realized HKD 11,860,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011. 

Naturalistically carved with one horse, the forelegs resting on the back of its recumbent mate, modelled as if nuzzling its companion's fur, the details of the horses' manes and tails finely combed, their eyes inlaid with tiny ruby beads, the stone with a few areas of russet inclusions, stand, box. 

Provenance: From the collection at Crichel House, Dorset, thence by descent to the first Lord Alington and to his daughter, the Hon. Mrs Marten
Michael Gillingham, London
The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, Part I, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1422.

Literature: R. Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 187.

Exhibited: Christie's New York, 13-26 March 2001
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, August 2003 - December 2004.

Note: The present lot displays some influence from Mughal jades which entered the Qing court in considerable numbers during Emperor Qianlong's reign. These jades were held in high regard by the emperor who ordered Chinese jade lapidaries to copy exactly certain of these foreign jades or to produce Chinese objects in Mughal style. The Mughal style of embellishment is seen on the present pair of horses whose eyes are inlaid with ruby beads, something that is very rarely found on Chinese jade carvings of animals. The only comparable example is a small jade hare similarly embellished with ruby eyes in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, Hebei meishu chubanshe, vol. 6, Qing, 1991, no. 271. (fig. 1) 

fig. 1. Small jade hare with ruby eyes in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Zhongguo Yuqi Quanji, Hebei meishu chubanshe, vol. 6, Qing, 1991, no. 271. 

Christie's. The Imperial Sale, Hong Kong, 1 June 2011