A pale green jade openwork 'Spring Water' oval plaque

Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty
Intricately carved in openwork and in layered relief to depict a goose in flight amidst long stems of lotus and lotus blossoms, its long neck curving upward from beneath a spray of lotus, the stone of even pale greenish-white tone. 10.4cm (4 1/8in) wide.

明 青白玉鏤雕春水紋牌

Provenance: Bonhams Hong Kong, 28 November 2011, lot 427
A UK private collection

來源：香港邦瀚斯，2011年11月28日，拍品編號427
英國私人收藏

The motif of the present plaque originated from the annual goose hunt in the Spring conducted by the Khitan in the Liao dynasty and the Jurchens in the Jin dynasty. Jade plaques from the Liao and Jin periods however, usually also have a falcon used by hunters. Later examples from the Yuan/Ming period, such as the present lot, tend not to have a falcon. See a similar jade plaque, Yuan dynasty, illustrated by James C.Y.Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1989, no.40; and another in the British Museum, London, illustrated by J.Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p.335, fig.1. Another very similar jade plaque of a goose, Yuan/Ming dynasty, is illustrated by Spink & Son Ltd., Chinese Jade: An Important Private Collection, London, 1991, p.39, no.78.