Lot 65. A very rare jade carving of a foreigner riding an elephant, Yuan Dynasty; 8cm (3in) wide (2).. Estimate HK$300,000 - 400,000 (US$39,000 - 51,000). Sold for HK$ 1,125,000 (€129,288). Photo: Bonhams

Masterfully carved as a bearded Turkic foreigner with a powerful facial expression, finely detailed with protruding eyes and adorned with a pair of disc earrings and a fur hat, wearing an armoured short jacket and holding a scoop in his right hand, superbly modelled sitting on an elephant standing foursquare with one foot lifted, its head turned slightly to one side with the trunk curled to the other side, caparisoned with an elaborately embroidered saddlecloth, the stone of an attractive grey tone suffused with black inclusions, wood stand.  

Provenance: Christie's New York, 3 December 1992, lot 58
Acquired in Hong Kong in 1994
The Songzhutang collection, no.82

Published and Illustrated: Virtuous Treasure: Chinese Jades for the Scholar's Table, Hong Kong, 2008, pl.97
T.Fok, The Splendour of Jade: The Songzhutang Collection of Jade, Hong Kong, 2011, pl.82

Exhibited: Virtuous Treasure: Chinese Jades for the Scholar's Table, University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong, 17 November 2007 - 17 February 2008, no.97

The present jade carving of a foreigner and an elephant is an extraordinarily rare example of Yuan date, executed with superb intricacy and delicacy. The compelling sculptural quality is emphasised by the combination of the vivid facial features of the figure, the bold modelling of the elephant with sensitive attention to details including the front lifted foot as if ready to walk. The present lot demonstrates the significant development in jade craftsmanship accomplished in the Yuan dynasty, compared to earlier periods, as exemplified in a simpler modelling of a jade carving of a similar subject matter, showing a foreigner on a recumbent elephant, Tang dynasty, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 5 Tang, Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, pl.15.

The facial features and clothing style of the figure in the present lot are characteristic of the Yuan period. See a jade group of a foreigner and horse, Yuan dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Gufang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.342. 

A related jade group of a foreigner and elephant, Yuan/Ming dynasty, was sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 1996, lot 112; however, whilst the facial features of the figure are stylistically similar to the present lot, the elephant is depicted recumbent.

Bonhams. THE SONGZHUTANG COLLECTION OF EARLY JADES from the Neolithic Period to the Yuan Dynasty, 30 May 2017, 14:00 HKT