A PALE GREEN AND RUSSET JADE CARVING OF A BIXIE

18th century

Footnotes

十八世紀 青玉圓雕辟邪

Provenance:
A distinguished Asian private collection

來源：
亞洲顯赫私人收藏

This mythical beast was inspired by prototypes from West Asia transmitted to China around the Han dynasty. Recent studies suggest that the motif of such winged mythical beasts derives from cross-cultural stimulation by way of continuous trade interaction and warfare with Western Asia and in particular, the Steppe areas near China's Northern borders. See J.Rawson, 'The Han Empire and its Northern Neighbours: The Fascination of the Exotic', The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China, Cambridge, 2012, p.28. Originally images of these beasts were represented in tombs, either as tomb guardians to protect the deceased against evil spirits, or as auspicious carvings and decoration on smaller luxury ornaments. See a jade bixie, Western Han dynasty, excavated in Zhouling County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, in the Xianyang Museum, illustrated by Gu Fang, The Pictorial Handbook of Ancient Chinese Jades, Beijing, 2007, p.272.

Carvings of archaistic mythical beasts however, continued well into the Qing dynasty, as the scholarly trend of 'searching for evidence' (kaozheng 考證) - a rigorous new philology - sparked closer scrutiny and interest in archaic motifs and themes. Compare with a related white and russet jade carving of a bixie, 18th century, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2017, lot 3310. See also a related pale green jade mythical horned beast, 17th/18th century, which was sold at Christie's London, 13 July 2017, lot 59.

玉質青白溫潤，局部微帶沁色，古韻盎然，圓雕辟邪呈臥姿，伏於地表，向右回首仰望，尖耳雲眉，杏目圓睜，如意狀鼻，頭生單角，前肢兩側長羽翅一對，緊貼軀體，四爪孔武有力，收於身下，長尾分叉內捲，毛髮絲絲分明，腹側棱線起伏流暢，肌理清晰，體態豐腴，形神刻畫細膩。

有學者認爲辟邪形象於漢代從西亞傳入中國，有研究指這種帶翼神獸的引入，是源起自跟西亞頻繁的貿易往來及戰事，尤其發生在中國北部邊境的草原地帶。相關討論收錄於羅森，〈The Han Empire and its Northern Neighbours: The Fascination of the Exotic〉，《The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China》，劍橋，2012年，頁28。這些瑞獸形象常見於墓中，能作為鎮墓獸祛邪除崇，或作為陪葬品上的裝飾，隨葬墓中，守護逝者。可參考陝西省咸陽市渭城區周陵鄉出土一件西漢玉辟邪，現存咸陽博物館，著錄於古方，《中國古玉器圖典》，北京，2007年，頁272。

可比較香港蘇富比售出一件清十八世紀白玉辟邪，玉質同樣帶局部褐斑 ，於2017年4月4日，拍品編號3310；以及一件十七/十八世紀青白玉雕瑞獸，售於倫敦佳士得，2017年7月13日，拍品編號59。