A VERY RARE IMPERIAL SPINACH-GREEN JADE FIGURE OF AN ELEPHANT

18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

A VERY RARE IMPERIAL SPINACH-GREEN JADE FIGURE OF AN ELEPHANT
18TH/19TH CENTURY
The elephant is well carved from a large boulder of rich green color standing foursquare, the head slightly turned and trunk curled onto the right foreleg. The powerful beast's hide is detailed with deep folds around the legs and veining on the ears. The separately carved tusks are white in color. The elephant's back and base of the feet are pierced with apertures for mounting.
8½ in. (21.8 cm.) long, carved wood stand

Provenance

Queen Marie of Yugoslavia (1900-1961).
Spink & Son Ltd., London.
Ashkenazi & Co., San Francisco, 1983.
Dr. Leonard and Mrs. Ann Marsak Collection.

Literature

Geoffrey Wills, Jade of the East, New York, 1972, no. 104.
Arts of Asia, November 1983.

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Lot Essay

The elephant is an auspicious symbol which is used in numerous rebuses to convey peace, prosperity and good fortune. Compare with a very similar, but slightly larger spinach-green jade elephant on a French ormolu base, from the estate of Empress Friedrich, Schloss Friedrichshof, included in the exhibition, Chinese Jade, Spink & Son, London, 1998, 23.

Ornately embellished figures of elephants in various materials were found in halls and throne rooms in the Imperial palace, such as the pair of spinach-green jade elephants with cloisonné caparisons illustrated by Zhang Hongxing, The Qianlong Emperor, Treasures from the Forbidden City, Edinburgh 2002, p. 44, no. 10. Enamel and gilt-bronze examples in the Yangxin Hall, where the Emperor received his officials, are illustrated in Palaces of the Forbidden City, Hong Kong, 1986, pls. 78-9.

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