QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

The tapir is exceptionally rare in jade carving. Its form is based on ancient prototypes from the Zhou dynasty tapir-form bronze vessel. An example of this is the tapir-form zun dated to the Western Zhou period, which was excavated in 1975 in Baoji county, Jiangsu province and is now in the Baoji Municipal Museum and illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua dacidian, Qingtongjuan, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 460, p. 133. The tapir is a native animal of Southeast Asia, but in ancient China, particularly during the Eastern Zhou period (770-256 BC), it was regarded as an auspicious legendary creature believed to consume people’s nightmares.