18.7 cm. （7 3⁄8 in.） wide

The present lot is not to be mistaken for its deceptively simple and elegant form. The water buffalo is very carefully worked and highly detailed in its naturalistic contours， such as the rippling ribbed horns， finely delineated forelock， undulating dewlap and well detailed legs. It is extremely rare to find animal carvings from a single boulder of the richly-toned prized jade due to the expensive raw material found in Hetian in Xinjiang Province. The sheer imposing size recumbent beast and cumbersome weight of the jade stone conveys at once both strength and peacefulness. Its full rounded body with striking ribbed horns exude power， strength convey tranquility.
Jade carvings of water buffalos were highly sought after by collectors of the past and present， and most of them now reside in some of the greatest museum collections in the world. For example， see a large green jade water buffalo previously in the collection of Oscar Raphael （1874-1941） which was recorded to have been taken from the Summer Palace， later lent for exhibition at the City of Manchester Art Gallery in 1913， then subsequently bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum， Cambridge， in 1941， illustrated in Catalogue of an Exhibition of Chinese Applied Art， Manchester， 1913， p.24， pl.III， cat.no.122. See also another example of a jade water buffalo dated 17th century also reputedly taken from the Summer Palace in 1860， previously in the collections of Colonel Arthur Jebb and The Right Honourable Lord Gladwyn， now in the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung and housed in the British Museum， London， illustrated by J. Rawson， Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing， London， 1995， cat.no.26：19.
Refer also to the jade water buffalo formerly in the collection of Baron Lionel de Rothschild， now in The Woolf Charitable Trust and illustrated in The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade， London， 2013， pl.99； and another 17th century water buffalo （accession no.36.121） bequeathed by Mrs. Edward S. Harkness to the Metropolitan Museum of Art， New York in 1936. For an example sold at auction： see a jade water buffalo from the Sackville George Pelham Collection， 5th Earl of Yarborough， which was subsequently sold at Woolley and Wallis， Salisbury， 20 May 2009， lot 388.

Price estimate:
HKD: 450, 000-550, 000
USD: 57, 700-70, 500

Auction Result:
HKD: --