A Fine White Jade 'Cleaning the Elephant' Group Qing Dynasty, 18th Century

depicting a youthful attendant brushing the dust from the back of the elegantly caparisoned elephant, as a kneeling mustachioed attendant raises a stupa-form vessel to their right, the stone of a very even white tone with a hint of pale celadon, wood stand (2)

The Whitaker Family collects ion.
Christie's London, 6th July 1983, lot 502.

Overall excellent condition, scattered cloudy inclusions, particularly to the back of the group
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The motif of 'The Cleaning of the Elephant', as discussed by Zhang Hongxing in The Qianlong Emperor, Treasures from the Forbidden City, Edinburgh, 2002, p. 111, alludes to the Buddhist theme of washing oneself clean of worldly illusions, as the Chinese words for elephant and illusion, xiang, are homophones. Zhang also discusses the Qianlong emperor's fascination with this subject upon the rediscovery of a painting treating this theme during a palace inventory in 1745. 

A second theme is suggested by the close relationship of the present work to others depicting an elephant with children holding a vase, signifying the rebus tai ping jing xiang ('peace on the land' or 'peace and prosperous future'). 

For similar works, compare the group illustrated in Yang Boda, A Romance with Jade, From the De An Tang collects ion, 2004, no. 87, p. 147, and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 22nd May 1984, lot 227. Compare also the group from the collects ion of the T. B. Walker Foundation, sold in these rooms, 20th October 1988, lot 226; and the group sold at Christie's New York, 29th November 1990, lot 348.