Collections Within My Collection: The Chinese Connection, Part 2

The terra cotta military horse is not the only Chinese piece in my collection. This next piece arrived in a similar manner, albeit from a different university professor.

This friend spent a lot of time teaching in China and Taiwan during his tenure as a professor here at Purdue. He was retiring and, with his wife, was preparing to move away from Indiana. In going through their things, they came across several gifts that he had received from leaders in China.

My friend texted me and asked, "Would you like this?" while sending me a photo of a lovely gold rimmed horse plate. Of course I said I did!

She did not know much about it except that it had been a gift and was from the National Palace Museum.

Anyone else see an old 45 RPM record instead of a plate? I do!

Since my friend did not know much about the plate, I have been doing a little research on it.

It helped that it came with a small information card. The artist painted the original painting sometime in the 18th century and was actually an Italian who had come to China as a missionary.

Then, my friend texted me again and said she'd found something else that was mine if I wanted it.

A very pretty jade horse.

With roots tracing back to the Tang dynasty, jade horse carvings echo the cultural legacy of the horse including being the bearer of good fortune. This is part of the reason why horses or horse emblems were seen as blessings or signifying peace.

And, since jade was extracted from mountains and riverbeds, it symbolized a way to ascend beyond the earth into heaven. 

Jade can be quite valuable and as dark as this piece is, I think it might be worth more than my friends realized when they gave it to me. 

Table from The Natural Gemstone Company.

Another friend of ours is a jeweler and I intend to show him the jade horse and get his opinion. If it is worth some money, I'll let my friends know and ask if they'd like to have the jade horse back.

I have one more piece to show you, but it's not actually Chinese, it's Japanese.

Stay 'tooned!