Period:Song dynasty Production date:10thC-13thC
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, polished, incised,
Subjects:mammal (deer)
Dimensions:Height: 4.50 centimetres Length: 4.70 centimetres
Description:
Recumbent deer of very pale greenish white jade with inclusions and soft polish.
IMG
![图片[1]-figure BM-2022-3034.262-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Song dynasty/Jades/449_2.jpg)
![图片[2]-figure BM-2022-3034.262-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Song dynasty/Jades/449_3.jpg)
![图片[3]-figure BM-2022-3034.262-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Song dynasty/Jades/449_1.jpg)
Comments:Song dynasty or later. This creature is exquisitely carved. The technique of suggesting the mobile body, soft skin, muscles and bones by an undulating surface and dimples is exploited with even greater subtlety than on 684 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.164]. On the upper right side both front and rear legs are folded underneath the body, while on the left side the front leg is half raised, as if the deer is about to stand up. The head is held high and tilted both backwards and slightly to the right. Its features are executed in detail, with eyes below moulded brows and a wide, soft mouth. The long, carefully worked horns are essential to the composition as they spread back towards the rear of the animal. The body is embellished with incised liens indicated fur and with tiny stars. The stone has an extraordinary ethereal translucence and a soft polish. Zhou Nanquan has dated a deer figure with similar ornament of stars to the Ming period. The present piece is too small to have been a paper weight and is likely to have been a toggle, or some such ornament. As mentioned at no. 433 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.167], deer were linked with the Tang and Song dynasty immortality cults, although the notion of deer with miraculous characteristics goes back much earlier. Ater the end of the Tang, deer probably had general auspicious connotations, rather than specifically religious Daoist references. As white is the colour associated with both immortality and death, this small creature is likely to have been linked with both. Stars on its pelt probably refer to the heavens. See Rawson 1995, p.370, cat.no.26.13. The deer carved in the round with raised head turned to one side, its fully developed antlers reaching back to rest on its haunches. One foreleg is raised with the other three limbs under its body whilst the surface of the animal has been incised with star-like motifs. Sung. Length 47mm height 45mm.
Materials:jade
Technique:carved, polished, incised,
Subjects:mammal (deer)
Dimensions:Height: 4.50 centimetres Length: 4.70 centimetres
Description:
Recumbent deer of very pale greenish white jade with inclusions and soft polish.
IMG
Comments:Song dynasty or later. This creature is exquisitely carved. The technique of suggesting the mobile body, soft skin, muscles and bones by an undulating surface and dimples is exploited with even greater subtlety than on 684 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.164]. On the upper right side both front and rear legs are folded underneath the body, while on the left side the front leg is half raised, as if the deer is about to stand up. The head is held high and tilted both backwards and slightly to the right. Its features are executed in detail, with eyes below moulded brows and a wide, soft mouth. The long, carefully worked horns are essential to the composition as they spread back towards the rear of the animal. The body is embellished with incised liens indicated fur and with tiny stars. The stone has an extraordinary ethereal translucence and a soft polish. Zhou Nanquan has dated a deer figure with similar ornament of stars to the Ming period. The present piece is too small to have been a paper weight and is likely to have been a toggle, or some such ornament. As mentioned at no. 433 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.167], deer were linked with the Tang and Song dynasty immortality cults, although the notion of deer with miraculous characteristics goes back much earlier. Ater the end of the Tang, deer probably had general auspicious connotations, rather than specifically religious Daoist references. As white is the colour associated with both immortality and death, this small creature is likely to have been linked with both. Stars on its pelt probably refer to the heavens. See Rawson 1995, p.370, cat.no.26.13. The deer carved in the round with raised head turned to one side, its fully developed antlers reaching back to rest on its haunches. One foreleg is raised with the other three limbs under its body whilst the surface of the animal has been incised with star-like motifs. Sung. Length 47mm height 45mm.
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![[Qing Dynasty] British female painter—Elizabeth Keith, using woodblock prints to record China from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China—1915-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-191x300.png)
