SONG-MING DYNASTY (AD 960-1644)

A yellowish-grey-green jade figure of a reclining elephant of slightly smaller size (7 cm.) and with more simply rendered features, from the collection of Desmond Gure, is illustrated by Gure in “Selected Examples from the Jade Exhibition at Stockholm, 1963, A Comparative Study”, B.M.F.E.A., No. 36, 1964, pl. 23, no. 3, where it is dated late Tang or early Song. A white jade figure of a standing elephant with head turned (10.9 cm.), from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Chu, is illustrated by Ip Yee in Chinese Jade Carving, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 166-67. no. 153. Dated the Ming dynasty, the Chu elephant is more robust in appearance than the current figure and has more rounded features. See, also, the yellow jade seal dating to the Southern Song dynasty carved on top with an elephant with head turned to one side, from Cangnan, Zhejiang province, is illustrated by Gu Fang (ed.) in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China, vol. 8, Beijing, 2005, p. 216.