Lot Essay

Despite the central role of astrology in Chinese cosmology, figural representations of the twelve zodiac animals remain remarkably rare in jade. For a complete 18th-century set, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, p. 132, pl. 111, where each figure measures slightly smaller in scale (3.1–3.3 cm high). Another early set is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; see Investigations and Studies in Jade, New York, 1906, no. 730. See also a complete white jade zodiac group from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1416.