A 'BOY AND BUFFALO' JADE GROUP, LATE QING DYNASTY

A CELADON AND BROWN JADE 'BOY AND BUFFALO' GROUP, LATE QING DYNASTY
China, 19th - early 20th century. The recumbent buffalo is shown with three legs tucked under its body while its head is resting on the fourth, the curved and ribbed horns gently pressed against the shoulders, the incised tail swept to one side.

Provenance: From a private collector in the United Kingdom.
Condition: Excellent condition with some wear, tiny nicks to the edges of two hoofs and the straw hat. Some natural fissures and abrasions to the stone.

Weight: 983 g
Dimensions: Length 16.5 cm

A small boy is crawling over the buffalo's back and holds a rope attached to the nose of the animal, while he carries a lotus bud under his large straw hat. The stone is of mottled celadon color with mushroom-brown inclusions cleverly used to pick out certain highlights of the carving.

Literature comparison: In the catalogue entry for an earlier jade carving of a boy and buffalo in Chinese Jades From Han Qing, no. 46, James Watt writes that the "subject of a boy on a buffalo made its first appearance in the art of the Southern Song period." Apart from appearing in paintings, ceramic and bronze forms, the subject of the buffalo and its boy minder also can be found in jade carvings from the Yuan dynasty through to the Qing and early Republic period.

青玉童子牧牛，晚清
中國，十九至二十世紀。臥式水牛的頭頂在第四隻腿上，彎曲而棱角分明的牛角輕輕地壓在肩上，尾巴向一側掃過。

來源：英國私人收藏
品相：品相極好，一些磨損，牛角邊緣有一些磕損，石内有一些天然裂縫和斑紋。

重量：983 克
尺寸：長16.5 厘米