Ming Dynasty Grey and Black Jade Deer Carving

A rare grey and black jade carving of a recumbent deer, Ming Dynasty, the animal well modelled with its legs tucked beneath its body, its head raised facing forward and holding in its mouth long stems of lingzhi fungus, one stem curling over one side of its body with the fungus head rising over its haunches and a shorter stem extending over the other side, the pale greyish stone with darker veining and brown suffusions, and some areas of black, box, 10.5 cm long, The deer together with lingzhi is an auspicious subject that became popular in the Yuan and early Ming period. Deer, lu, homophone with a word signifying happiness and prosperity. The lingzhi, a fungus believed to grow on the island abodes of the Immortals symbolizes immortality., Compare with a smaller celadon jade carving in the Palace Museum Beijing, illustrated in Jadeware (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 274, no. 210