Lot 74. A fine and rare large celadon jade recumbent horse, China, 17th-18th century. L. 17,5 cm; H. 10,2 cm; Weight: 1,088 kg. Sold: €14 000 (Est: €6 000 - €10 000). Courtesy Nagel.

The boulder is modelled in the shape of a reclining horse with its head and mane neck laid back over the shoulder, three hoofed legs tucked under the body, and the left foreleg bent. The long tail runs beside the left hind leg, the hair on the mane and tail is finely engraved, the stone has a green-brown celadon tone. Very slightly chipped

Provenance: From an old private collection in southern Germany, by descent in the 1950s and acquisitions in the 1960s to the 1980s supplemented.

Note: The horse has a long history as a symbol of power, energy and prestige in China. Jade carvings of horses probably date back to the Tang dynasty and reflect the powerful stone sculptures of horses found along the spirit roads, as well as the ceramic horses found in tombs.

A recumbent grey jade horse, dated to the late Ming or early Qing dynasties, with its head turned to the left but its right foreleg bent at the knee, is illustrated in J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 376, no. 26:19.

Another related but smaller (8.3 cm long) jade horse is illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji - Sui Tang Ming, Hebei, 1994, vol. 5, p. 169, no. 244.