A RARE CARVED ZITAN 'MOON HARE' CLIP

18th century

Footnotes

十八世紀 紫檀雕「月兔搗藥圖」文夾

The present lot depicts the 'moon hare' (yu tu 玉兔), the celestial companion of the Moon Goddess Chang'e, engaged in preparing the Elixir of Longevity for her. Whilst the clip exemplifies a standard form in late Ming and early Qing bamboo carvings, it is a shape seldom seen in other materials. Similar small carvings with a hinged central section have been documented, though their precise function remains uncertain. While some speculate that these carvings served as ink-stick rests, this theory remains in debate. The idea that they functioned as wrist rests is unlikely given their small size and hinged design. A more compelling interpretation suggests they were used as early paper clips, securing scholars' informal notes; a practical tool for preserving fleeting ideas in literary and artistic pursuits. Another theory posits that the clip represents a stand for a circular bronze mirror. The theory is appealing as rabbits are known to represent mirror stands with the circular mirror representing the moon, and the mirror would pick up the moon-like roundel in which the hare is presented.

The form of the rising circular panel representing the moon, and emerging from the rock, is a creative alternative to the depiction of the moon above waves, a composition which may be found in a cinnabar and tianqi lacquer tray in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum.

See a related 'wrist rest' with similar folding mechanism, but decorated with a scholar under a pine tree, 17th century, in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, illustrated in Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, p.171, no.22.

See also a related bamboo scholar's clip similarly hinged with a central section, 1500-1750, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 May 2023, lot 862.