A CELADON AND BROWN JADE FIGURE OF A HORSE, MING DYNASTY
Lot 436 - FAS1025

China, 16^th-17^th century. Well sculpted as a recumbent horse with the legs tucked in, the head turned backwards with the mane falling on either side of the arched neck, and the tail flicked onto the left rear haunch. The opaque stone is of a fine celadon color with dark brown patches and veins.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012. A private collector, acquired from the above. Sam and Myrna Myers are first generation Americans who shared a taste for collecting beautiful objects of art. On a trip to Ascona, Switzerland, the couple stumbled into a small antique shop which started their journey of collecting antiques. When Sam Myers was sent to Paris by his law firm in the mid-1960s, he and his wife Myrna became so enamored with the city that they decided to make it their home. There, over the course of 50 years, they built an extraordinary art collection, and in 1976, Myrna opened a gallery in Paris specializing in Asian art. Their collection spans a wide range of precious objects from Chinese jades, ceramics, textiles, Indian ivory carvings, to Japanese clothing and lacquer, much of which was shown in several traveling exhibitions involving the Pointe-à-Callière Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum, the Fondation Baur, and the Asian Art Museum of Nice, as well as further exhibitions at the Musée Guimet and others. The couple also worked together with jade expert Filippo Salviati to create one of the most outstanding jade collections globally and authored several books on jade, including ‘Radiant Stones’ (2000), ‘The Language of Adornment’ (2002) and ‘Genèse de l’empire céleste’ (2020).
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, traces of weathering, minuscule nibbling, smoothened nicks, the stone with natural fissures, some which have developed into small hairline cracks.

Weight: 72 g
Dimensions: Length 5.7 cm

The horse has a long history as a symbol of power, energy, and prestige in China. Jade carvings of horses are thought to originate in the Tang dynasty, reflecting the powerful stone sculptures of horses found on Spirit Roads and the pottery horses found in tombs.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related celadon jade figure of a horse, dated to the Ming dynasty, 6 cm long, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S1987.739.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 20 May 2008, lot 157
Price: GBP 7,200 or approx. EUR 15,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A charming mottled green celadon jade of a small horse, Ming Dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, stone, and subject. Note the size (4.5 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 20 September 2013, lot 1678
Price: USD 10,000 or approx. EUR 12,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A mottled yellow and pale brown jade figure of a recumbent horse, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, stone, and subject. Note the size (8.1 cm).