Mutton Fat Nephrite Jade

Vintage Chinese nephrite jade rattle ‘toy’ carved with stylized qilin.

The one-piece carving is a pair of qilin, recumbent across a hollow spherical enclosure, within its loose ‘heartbeat’.

This traditional toy in Chinese art makes a soft cricket call, a small jade ‘bead’ beating on the inner walls of the carving.

Nephrite in white abounds in many antique and vintage Chinese carvings, but this is very white, its ‘oily’ texture visible by its matte finish.

Rather than glossy in appearance, this nephrite material is extraordinary for its organic ‘greasy’ polish.

(The Old School wants the matte, the New Collectors favor high polish.)

The pair of long-legged qilin expresses the toy intimately, one qilin with a very pale green undertone.

The carving measures 6 x 5 x 2.5 cm (thickest).

Originally conceived for a practical purpose, objects of vertu crisscross history, imagination and artistic skill.

If antique rattle toys are well collected, a drifting sound Chinese nephrite rattle can only be a dream.