明末 / 清初 青玉雕童子擺件

carved in the round, the taller figure bearing stalks of rice, the stems bent over from the weight of the grain heads resting against the back of the shoulder, the other figure holding a tasseled drum and mallet, both smiling and wearing draped robes with pendent sash belts, the stone with cloudy and dark gray inclusions, fitted wood stand (2)

D. Schwartz 收藏，唐橋井，英國（傳）
G. Malina, Inc.，紐約，1982年

Another jade carving of a boy with a stalk of rice, dated to the late Ming period, is illustrated in Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing, Asia Society, New York, 1980, cat. no. 97. The depiction of two boys with two heads of grain could be an allusion to the Hehe Erxian, however, as Teresa Tse Bartholomew explains in Hidden Meanings: Symbolism in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 246, an overladen stalk of grain symbolizes the five grains, or wugu, and represents a bumper harvest.