A WHITE AND RUSSET JADE CARVING OF A GOOSE18th centuryCrisply carved with a plump body standing on a rocky outcrop with webbed feet and finely incised plumage, the head with almond-shaped eyed turned sharply to the right clasping a sprig of auspiciouslingzhi in its beak, furtherlingzhi issuing from the rock beneath, the stone of pale white tone with caramel-brown russet patches, box.12.8cm (5in) high.For further information on this lot please visit theProvenance: 十八世紀 白玉帶皮巧雕鵝擺件Provenance:Ashkenazie & Co., San Francisco, 11 June 1992來源：三藩市Ashkenazie & Co.藝廊，購於1992年6月11日Geese in China are closely associated with one of the nation's most celebrated calligraphers, Wang Xizhi (303-361 AD). Wang's fondness for geese was legendary and the story of him copying the Daoist classic Daodejing for a priest in exchange for a white goose is well known.See a related green jade container in the shape of a goose, Qing dynasty, with a poem by the Qianlong emperor, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in theCompendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, 9, Beijing, 2011, no.72.pare also with related mid-Qing dynasty examples of standing goose-form waterpots illustrated by Yang Boda,ed.,Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol.2, Shijiazhuang, 2005, pls.291-292.此器為擺件，白玉質地，局部有烤色，曲頸回首，圓雕一鵝口啣靈芝，立於鏤雕而成的靈芝奇石上。中國古人對潔身自好，風度翩翩的鵝向來厚愛有加，所以古代以鵝為題材的作品不在少數，如常見的「羲之愛鵝」，相傳王氏愛鵝，嘗以《道德經》書法換鵝。亦有說其觀察鵝頸俯仰伸曲，悟書法運筆神髓，融書法之道於自然。鵝的形態與雕工可參考清宮舊藏一件頸部刻乾隆御題詩《詠玉鵝》的青玉鵝形水丞，見《故宮博物院藏品大系玉器編-9 清》，北京，2011年，頁84-85，圖版72。故宮博物院另藏兩件鵝式水丞，鵝身和本拍品皆肥碩飽滿，口分別啣魚及嘉禾，載於《中國玉器全集，中》，石家莊，2005年，圖版291和292。