Lot 31. A pair of pale brownish-green jade carvings of pigs, Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD); 12cm (4 2/3in) long. Estimate HK$ 150,000-180,000. Sold for HK$ 1,360,000 (€ 161,328). Photo: Bonhams.

Each recumbent pig of cylindrical form with a flat snout and ears, with legs formed by deep slanting grooves, the stone of a pale yellowish-green with pale brown and russet inclusions.

Note: Jade carvings such as the present lot were part of an extensive range of jade objects which were buried in tombs with the interred body. It was believed that these jade objects were placed for protection of the dead. This practice is connected with the Daoist belief, as stated in the 4th century text Baopuzi by Ge Hong, 'when gold and jade plug the nine orifices, man dies but his body does not decay'. Pairs of jade pigs were placed in the hands of the deceased.

Funerary jade pigs from this period are often carved simply with a few deep calculated cuts, known as the 'Eight Cuts of Han'. Compare similarly carved Han dynasty jade pigs including: two illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 4, Beijing, 2011, p.130, nos.152-153; and a pair in the Sir Joseph Hotung collection, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1996, p.319, no.24:10.

A pair of similarly carved greyish-green jade pigs, from the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, was sold at Christie's New York, 19 March 2015, lot 588.

Bonhams. The Sze Yuan Tang Collection of Chinese Jades, Hong Kong, 5 April 2016