Jade boy and buffalo group

A jade group of a boy holding a spray of millet in his right hand and clasping the horn of a recumbent buffalo. A long rope is attached to the buffalo’s nostrils and trails underneath the animal.  The animal’s tail is swept around the hindquarters.  The stone is of even, greenish celadon colour with some russet markings.

Wolfram Eberhard states that the ox or buffalo (niu) is the second animal in the Chinese zodiac. It symbolises Spring, as work on the land begins in this season with ceremonial ploughing.[1]  A very similar group of a boy riding a buffalo, the animal holing a spray of millet, is in the collection of the Wuhan Museum.[2]

Provenance:
Private Collection, UK.
Christie’s, May 2018.

1    Eberhard, Wolfram, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1986, p. 222.
2    https://mo.mbd.baidu.com/r/Ua3QwflBf2?f=cp&u=838c0f5ab925ad3b

清/青白玉卧牛童子摆件

此件玉器材质为质量上乘的和田青白玉，表现了牧牛小童与卧牛一道休憩的场面，整体线条简约有力，充分展现牛身的肌肉质感。匠人采取避裂巧雕的手法将玉料本身的瑕疵转化为牛身的缰绳。