Buffalo

Gray and brown veins and flaws on green jade cover the head and back of this buffalo, which crouches peacefully on bent legs. Its kind smile is intended to evoke the benevolence and dignity of the god commonly worshiped as the water deity, who controlled irrigation. The characteristic contour of the back and the depressions indicating joints on the horns unquestionably show the animal's structural attributes precisely. Artificial treatments are evident, particularly on the ears and tail, which are incised with remarkable striations filled with black color. The cuts are simple and powerful.
The buffalo was one of the animals appearing in early Shang and Zhou jade sculptures, where it was usually depicted as a very tame creature reclining on four legs, with its two pointed horns curving back horizontally from the forehead (Zgyqqj 1993, vol. 2, plates 183, 203). The influence of those classical sculptures is evident in the later version shown here, especially when compared to an excavated Han piece from Shaanxi, which has the same reclining posture and two curved horns (Zgyqqj 1993, vol. 4, plate 149). The upraised head and flat-topped horns of the piece shown here, however, are evidence that it is a Qing version (Zgyqqj 1991, vol. 6, plate 266).