A large celadon jade 'deer' boulder, Qing dynasty, early 18th century

Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Compare the present work with a similar but smaller white jade carving depicting deer in a rocky mountainscape sold at Christie’s New York, 30th March 2005, lot 129; and a pale green jade example sold at Christie’s London, 10th December 1990, lot 215. See also a smaller boulder fashioned with a scholar and attendant on the front and the reverse with two deer in a landscape, attributed to the Qianlong period, from the collections of Florence and Herbert Irving and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, sold in these rooms, 10th September 2019, lot 8.

This landscape is identified as a mountain of immortality by the presence of the two deer, an attribute of the God of Longevity, Shoulao, and the stars that are engraved onto their bodies. Also symbolic of longevity is the pine tree which grows from the lower left corner of the composition.