A JADE ‘YINGXIONG’ GROUP MING DYNASTY

finely rendered in the round as a falcon perched atop a recumbent mythical beast, forming the rebus yingxiong (champion), the long-tailed bird portrayed with a lowered head and finely picked out plumage, the stone of a celadon colour with black patches skilfully worked to concentrate around the falcon's back and the beast's underside 

A related yingxiong carving was included in Naturalism & Archaism. Chinese Jades from the Kirknorton Collection, Carter Fine Art Limited, London, 1995, cat. no. 59; another in the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, illustrated in Angus Forsyth and Brian McElney, Jades from China, Bath, 1994, pl. 292; and a third is offered in this sale, lot 203. See also a carving of an eagle perched on a bear, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Jade, vol. 9, Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 149; and another from the collection of Constance Margaret Goldney, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3307.