A YELLOW JADE 'HORSE' PAPERWEIGHT MING DYNASTY

the greenish-yellow stone with russet inclusions carved as a horse lying on its side and looking back towards its hind legs turned up and pulled in towards the body, revealing the bottom of its hooves and its tail in between, with its front legs tucked under its body, the hair of its mane and tail meticulously picked out

Christie's Hong Kong, 17th January 1989, lot 897B.
The Mary and George Bloch Collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23rd October 2005, lot 45.

Skilfully fashioned in the round, this charming jade horse is sensitively rendered with gentle facial features and full rounded forms that pleasantly contrast with its exaggerated pose. Small jade animal sculptures, generally carved in a reclining or seated pose to follow the form of jade pebbles, were made for the scholar’s desk and used as paperweights.

A similar horse was sold in our London rooms, 2nd December 1976, lot 709; another, also from the Mary and George Bloch collection, was sold in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 51, and more recently, 8th April 2014, lot 3061; and a third, but modelled with legs tucked under the body, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 155. Compare also a jade horse carved with head touching its raised rear hoof, from the collection of Dr Ip Yee, included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Chinese Jade Carving, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1983, cat. no. 163, and sold in these rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 58.