A Chinese brown and beige jade carving of a Baku 玉雕貘 Ming dynasty or earlier 明或更早 Carved in a recumbent posture, depicting the unusual single horned mythical creature Baku ”貘“ with round bulging eyes, a lively elephant trunk, and leaf-like elephant ears, with a sinuous long tail extended to its strongly ridged back, the four legs tipped by sharp paws, surface finely polished, retaining traces of cinnabar in the recesses. Cloth box. (L: 2 3/4 in.)Qty: (1)PROVENANCE: Ashkenazie & Co., San Francisco, CaliforniaProperty from a private collection, Bethesda, MD, acquired from the above, August 16, 1988, (as Han period) Footnote: The present piece, finely carved and sensitively modeled, is an extremely rare Chinese rendition of a mythical creature which, according to early Japanese sources, was a rarely seen beast from Chinese folklore which protected against pestilence and evil fortune, and in later Japanese folklore, "eats" nightmares.