Lot 3045. A White Jade 'Elephant and Boys' Group Carving, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period (1736-1795); 15.3 cm., 6 in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,500,000 HKD. Lot sold 3,880,000 HKD (365,271 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

carved as an elephant standing foursquare on an openwork with lingzhi stemming from a crevice, its furled ears and curved tusks naturalistically depicted, caparisonned with a long tasselled saddle rug woven on each side with a dragon and ruyi-shaped clouds swirls, set with a hollow treasure vase (bao ping) flanked by two grinning small boys crouching atop the elephant, a further small boy grabbing the elephant's tail at the back while holding a lingzhi sprig and gai ('parasol'), the smoothly finished stone of an even pale celdon tone with russet streaks cleverly carved to highlight the rockwork.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30th October 2002, lot 366.

Literature: Jade Art of the Glorious 'Qing Dynasty', Taipei, 2008, p. 70, pl. 34.

Note: This superb jade elephant is worked from white stone of exquisite quality, finely rendered in the form of an elephant surmounted by a treasure vase, symbolising peace and harmony. It is patinated to a sensuous and glossy texture with a clear and even tone. The elephant is realistically depicted standing foursquare with three joyful boys, and is covered with a caparison decorated with a three-clawed dragon with an imposing aura that conjures up an image of the emperor. The lingzhi sprig that stems from the rockwork below the elephant is also exquisitely worked. To find such meticulous workmanship on such a fine quality piece of jade is extremely rare. There only appears to be one comparable example, another elephant and vase of almost identical form and style, but worked from spinach-green jade, and of a smaller size, from the Heber Bishop Collection, donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1902, accession no. 02.18.740.

The iconography of an elephant supporting a vase on its back forms the auspicious rebus, Taiping Jingxian or Taiping Youxian, representative of the message of Peace and Harmony. For an example of elephants used in other imperial works, see a Qianlong clock mounted with a soapstone elephant, produced at the Guangzhou workshops, sold as part of Magnificent Clocks for the Chinese Imperial Court from the Nezu Museum, Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1503.

For other representations of elephants in jade, compare the treatment of a jade elephant bearing ‘The Three Fruits’ on a brushpot from the Lord Blackford trust, sold in these rooms, 5th October 2011, lot 1910A. For representations of an elephant with boys in jade in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 98. See also an additional example in the De An Tang collection, included in the exhibition A Romance with Jade. From the De An Tang Collection, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 89. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 April 2014