Lot 3415. A yellow and russet jade figure, Song dynasty or earlier; 6.2 cm, 2 3/8  in. Estimate 350,000 — 450,000 HKD. Lot sold 750,000 HKD (96,608 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

worked in the round as a figure standing on his left leg with the right tucked behind and hands clasped together before him, the shoulder surmounted with a rudimentary outline of a bird, the figure portrayed dressed in a long robe with a belt secured around his waist, the stone of a pale celadon colour with russet patches. 

Provenance: Collection of Jon Edwards.
Weisbrod Chinese Art Ltd, New York.

Literature: A Private Collection of Early Chinese Jade Carvings, Weisbrod Chinese Art Ltd, New York, 1994, no. 2.
Robert P. Youngman, The Youngman Collection of Chinese Jades from Neolithic to Qing, Chicago, 2008, pl. 170.

Note: A Song jade figure of dancing boys with lotus is illustrated in  Exquisite Jade Carving: Figures, Animals, Ornaments, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. nos 10 and 14. For an example attributed to the Tang dynasty, see the closely related figure illustrated in Wu Hung and Brian Morgan, Chinese Jades from the Mu-Fei Collection, Bluett & Sons, London, 1990, cat. no. 39.