18th CenturyBeautifully carved from a magnificent white stone with a coiling seated quail holding a leafy spray of millet in its beak, its left wing out-stretched across its back and the right wing tucked underneath the body alongside the delicately indicated legs with a few minor russet inclusions in tiny flecks. 2 1/2in (6.5cm) across,转到 Chinese Works of Art Go
注脚:清乾隆 白玉雕鵪鶉把件According to Therese Te Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. 245, no. 8.22.2, the subject of quail, anchun, and ears of grain, sui, forms either the rebus 'May you have peace year after year', suisui ping'an, or 'May there be peace and good harvest', shuang'an jiahe. The first character of the word for quail, is homophonous with the second character of peace, ping'an. Similarly an ear of grain, sui, is a pun for 'year', sui. Multiple ears therefore standing for 'year after year'. For other examples of white or celadon jade figures of 'quail with millet' in a variety of sitting positions all dating to the mid Qing dynasty, see Jadeware III, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 101, no. 81; Sotheby's, New York, 16 September 2008, lot 70; and Sotheby's, Hong Kong, The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art, 5 April 2016, lot 61.