China, Tang dynasty, 618 - 906
Length: 4 inches, 10 cm
Height: 4 3/4 inches, 12.1 cm

A marble weight in the form of a hare sitting on a rectangular base, the top of which is shaped as a lotus. The hare lifts its head up and its long ears are laid along its back. The details of eyes, mouth and nose are lightly incised. The base is incised with wavy lines on both its long sides. The pristine white marble has numerous, tiny crystalline inclusions.

Despite the hardness of his chosen material – which most probably comes from the Dingzhou area in Hebei province in North-Eastern China, known for its white marble - the sculptor of this charming small animal has managed to convey an impression of soft modelling that is instantly appealing. A number of similar stone weights are known (e.g. an example with elaborately carved base in the Shaanxi Museum1 ), but the present animal relates perhaps more closely to ceramic representations of hares, such as a blue-glazed example in the Tokyo National Museum, and dated by Watson to the first half of the eighth century.2 According to Chinese folklore the hare, one of the animals in the Chinese zodiac, is believed to reside in the moon, where it pounds cinnamon twigs to produce the elixir of immortality.

1 - Rawson, J.: Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, British Museum Press, London 1995, page 365, fig. 1 and 2
2 - Watson, W. Tang and Liao Ceramics, Thames and Hudson, London 1984, no. 249, page 214