This deep celadon jade mythical animal (bixie or chimera) has pronounced brown markings. It is recumbent with a single horn, lion-like head and paws facing its left, with a lingzhi fungus spray in its mouth. The eyes and other details are finely and deeply carved. It has flammiform wings incised above the legs and C-scrolls extended from the bifurcated tail.

Like the other jade animals in the Duberly collection this piece has been assigned various different dates. It was sold by Spink as Song but was then provisionally catalogued as possibly Six Dynasties (222-580).

Literature: Anthony du Boulay, The Duberly Collection of Chinese Art at Winchester College (Winchester, 2019), p. 133

Provenance: Bequeathed as part of the Duberly Collection, 1978; purchased by Major Montagu and Lady Eileen Duberly from Spink & Son Ltd., 28 May 1964 (£100)

Location: Not on display