LOT 172 A WHITE JADE 'THREE RAMS' GROUP 18th Century
Viewed 186 Frequency
Pre-bid 0 Frequency
Name
Size
Description
Translation provided by Youdao
A WHITE JADE 'THREE RAMS' GROUP 18th CenturyA WHITE JADE 'THREE RAMS' GROUP18th CenturyFinely carved as three recumbent rams, all naturalistically rendered with hooved legs tucked underneath their bodies, one of the young issuing the celestial yin yang symbol surrounded by swirling clouds resting on the back of the larger ram, the white stone of lustrous even tone. 5.1cm (2in) long.十八世紀 白玉三羊開泰擺件Provenance: C. Barrett & Co., London, 25 May 1971An English private collection來源:倫敦古董商C. Barrett & Co., 1971年5月25日英國私人收藏The character for sheep or goat, yang (羊), appeared as early as the Han dynasty as a pun for xiang (祥) meaning auspicious or lucky. By the Qing period, the image of sheep had become heavily associated with yang (陽), another homophone but signifying the sun or warm, positive, masculine force in Chinese cosmology. In the present carving, the connection with this yang force is made apparent with the yin and yang symbol issuing from one of the rams.The sheep imagery then developed into three sheep, san yang (三羊), which is a reference to the favourable arrival of spring, since the phrase sanyang kaitai (三陽開泰), points to the period between the winter solstice and the New Year. This was the period when the warm yang energy is emerging, as detailed in the ancient Chinese classic of prognostication, the Yijing, or Book of Changes.Compare with a related jade three-sheep group, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, p.108, no.88. Another related group but with yin and yang symbol, is illustrated in the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, vol.9, Beijing, 2010, no.143.Also see a related white jade carving of three rams, 18th century, which was sold at Bonhams London, 16 May 2019, lot 126.public_sentiment_keywords: 玉+商 ** Jade +sui ** Jade+xia ** AnYang ** Jade +xia ** Jade+sui ** Jade +han ** Jade + xia ** Jade +jinis_parse: 20230413image: yuzhan_bonhams_item/51930783.jpgsold_price_type: £
Online payment is available,
You will be qualified after paid the deposit!
Online payment is available for this session.
Bidding for buyers is available,
please call us for further information. Our hot line is400-010-3636 !
This session is a live auction,
available for online bidding and reserved bidding