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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. In Buddhism, elephants are regarded as one of the Seven Treasures and in a broader context are seen as symbols of strength, wisdom and power.
A very similar, but slightly larger spinach-green jade elephant on a French ormolu base, from the estate of Empress Friedrich, Schloss Friedrichshof, was included in the exhibition, Chinese Jade, Spink & Son, London, 1998, 23. A mottled grey, black and green jade elephant, Qianlong period, of similar style and posture, from the collection of Oscar Raphael is illustrated by Stanley Charles Nott in Chinese Jade Throughout The Ages, Japan, 1962, plate LXX. An 18th-century mottled grey jade elephant of smaller size (22 cm. long) from the Fitzwilliam Museum was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1 May-22 June 1975, and illustrated in Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Oriental Ceramic Society, 1975, fig. 398, p. 120.
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 in 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.
A very similar, but slightly larger spinach-green jade elephant on a French ormolu base, from the estate of Empress Friedrich, Schloss Friedrichshof, was included in the exhibition, Chinese Jade, Spink & Son, London, 1998, 23. A mottled grey, black and green jade elephant, Qianlong period, of similar style and posture, from the collection of Oscar Raphael is illustrated by Stanley Charles Nott in Chinese Jade Throughout The Ages, Japan, 1962, plate LXX. An 18th-century mottled grey jade elephant of smaller size (22 cm. long) from the Fitzwilliam Museum was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1 May-22 June 1975, and illustrated in Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Oriental Ceramic Society, 1975, fig. 398, p. 120.
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 in 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.