A LARGE WHITE JADE 'CRANE' GROUP, QING DYNASTY, 18TH / EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

來源

史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

Impressively carved in the round to depict two cranes with lingzhi and a pine tree, this carving portrays the wish for longevity. A related carving of two cranes, supported by pierced lingzhi sprays, in the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, was published in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 197, where it is noted that ‘the combination of stylised bird within a natural setting is typical of carving mannerisms of the first part of the eighteenth century’. See also related carvings sold at Christie’s London, one of two herons sold, 2nd June 1989, lot 443, and a carving of two birds catalogued as storks, from the collection of the Countess of Halifax, sold 13th February 1978, lot 119.

Compare a crane-form box and cover, composed in a similar elongated design and also with the crane grasping a sprig of lingzhi in its beak, from the Yen-Lin Shui Ge Collection, sold in our London rooms, 6th June 1995, lot 70, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2018, lot 3047.

 A small carving of two cranes, one holding a branch of fruiting peaches and the other with a stem of lingzhi, but fashioned in the form of the original pebble, was sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 28th April 1993, lot 641, and again, 7th April 2015, lot 3657; and a larger version was sold at Christie’s London, 6th November 2018, lot 214.

本品雕仙鶴、靈芝及壽松，寓意長壽延年。比較一相類例，刻劃仙鶴及靈芝，出自 Alan及Simone Hartman 收藏，載於 Robert Kleiner，《Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman》，香港，1996年，圖版197。另比一蒼鷺例，售於倫敦佳士得1989年6月2日，編號443；亦見一雙鳥例，出自哈利法克斯女爵士收藏，售倫敦佳士得1978年2月13日，編號119，拍賣圖錄描述為鸛鳥。

另比較一鶴形蓋盒例，仙鶴口銜靈芝，出自揅琳水閣珍藏，售於倫敦蘇富比1995年6月6日，編號70，後易手於香港佳士得2018年5月30日，編號3047。

再可比較一件圓雕福壽雙鶴把件，一鶴口銜仙桃，另一口銜靈芝，兩度售於香港蘇富比，先售於1993年4月28日，編號641，後易手於2015年4月7日，編號3657；倫敦佳士得亦售一例，尺寸較大，售於2018年11月6日，編號 214。