An exceptionally rare and important yellow jade 'Heavenly' horse, tianma


Song Dynasty or earlierThe mythical beast deftly carved as a recumbent horse with the right foreleg extended forward and the others tucked alongside with detailed hooves, its head raised in anticipation and the mouth open as if neighing, revealing the teeth, with short oval-shaped ears flanking the crested mane carved from the forehead and along its neck reaching the well-defined spine along the body raised at the back in readiness for movement, crowned with a long curved tail along the backside, the body flanked by finely incised double wing-scrolls, the stone of soft yellowish tone with russet inclusions to one side of the head and the rear legs, box. 7.6cm (3in) long (2).
|宋或更早 黃玉雕天馬Provenance:Timothy Allan Lewis (1937-2004) and Fran Lewis, Melplash Court, DorsetDuke's, Dorchester, 23 September 2010, lot 1018Durwin Tang Collection來源：英國多賽特郡Melplash Court莊園劉易斯夫婦舊藏（1937-2004）英國多切斯特Duke's拍賣行，2010年9月23日，拍品1018鄧德雍收藏Timothy A. Lewis, was born in Vancouver and lived with his wife Fran in Melplash Court, Dorset from 1984 to 2004, but also owned homes in London and Thailand. His father sold aircraft and held the first pilot's licence in China. Mr Lewis was born in 1937 and spent the war years as a child imprisoned in Hong Kong. After the war he was educated in America, Australia and Canada and was a talented athlete and exceptional oarsman. He supplied aircraft engines and helicopters to South East Asia. 蒂摩西·劉易斯於溫哥華出生，1984至2004年間與妻子在英國多賽特郡Melplash Court莊園生活，但在倫敦及泰國亦擁有居所，其父當時為在華第一位擁有飛行執照的飛行員。劉易斯1937年出生，童年時因為戰亂而受困香港，戰爭平息後赴美國、澳洲及加拿大求學，期間成為運動健將，熱衷划艇運動，其後從事針對東南亞市場的飛機引擎及直升機貿易業務。Lifelike sculptures of real animals and mythical beasts adorned the avenues leading to tombs and used as spiritual guardians embodying forces of the world, as can be seen in large stone statues on the tomb mound of the general Huo Qubing (d.117 BC) and in the tomb avenues of the Southern Dynasties. Large stone sculptures of winged horses were also positioned on the Spirit Road at Jianling, the tomb of the Tang emperor Suzong (d.762 AD). The interest in depicting powerful creatures in durable materials such as stone and jade, as the present lot, coincided with a growing interest in miraculous creatures as omens and portents and as links with the spiritual word; see J.Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp.351-354, fig.4.Jade carvings as the present lot, like its life-size stone counterparts, were not merely a sumptuous and highly prized display and handling objects, but were most likely perceived to have an important protective spiritual function in life and death. The earliest example relating to the present lot is a white jade carving of an Immortal riding on a winged horse set on a rectangular base, Western Han dynasty, which was excavated at Weicheng District, Xianyong City, Shaanxi Provincen, and is now in the Xianyong History Museum, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.273. However, the present lot though sharing certain aspects, would appear to differ in the style of the horse's head. It is, however, nearer in style of carving to a related white jade carving of a heavenly horse, Wei and Jin dynasty, from the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 4 Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, p.239, no.297. The Wei and Jin dynasty carving shares a similar posture, with the present lot depicted with a greater sense of movement, its back arched in readiness. Both carvings, in addition to the posture, share similarities in the manner of carving the tail, the eyes and eyebrows, the high crested mane and the finely incised lines on the mane and wings. See also a similar 'rectangular' mouth feature on a yellow jade winged mythical beast, Southern and Northern dynasties, from the Tianjin Museum, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.274.漢代以來肖生動物像常見於墓葬，或鎮墓，或陪葬。西漢霍去病（公元前117年歿）墓前大型動物石雕便是典型，六朝墓前亦多大型動物石雕作為鎮墓獸，唐肅宗（公元762年歿）建陵神道可見帶翼天馬石雕。此件玉雕天馬，雕工生動靈運，不僅可為日常把玩，亦或曾隨葬墓中，通靈黃泉。古人相信動物雕塑能夠穿越生死，安撫亡靈，祛邪除崇，相關討論參見J. Rawson， 《Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing》，倫敦，1995年，頁351至354，圖4。早期玉雕天馬可參考一件西安咸陽渭城區出土一件西漢羽人騎天馬白玉雕件，但本拍品之頭部雕琢頗為不同，見古方著，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁273。北京故宮藏一件魏晉時期之白玉天馬，整體氣韻和與本品更似，二者眉眼，鬃毛及雙翼雕琢之法頗有相通之處，見《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器篇》，卷五，北京，2011年，頁239，編號297。另可參考一件天津博物館藏南北朝時期之黃玉翼獸，方口，見《中國古玉器圖典》，頁274。