Fashioned from a pebble of considerable size, the carver of this piece has captured a sense of movement and liveliness in the rendering of the cub crawling on the back of the lion, who playfully holds in its mouth a ribbon attached to a brocade ball. This subject depicts the wish, ‘May you and your dependent achieve high rank’. Carvings of animals with their young grew in popularity during the Yuan and Ming dynasty and continued to be made in the Qing period.

Compare a carving of a lion and its cub, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Chinese Jades Throughout the Ages, vol. 12, Hong Kong, 1997, pl. 54; one in the Michael S.L. Liu collection, included in the exhibition Virtuous Treasures: Chinese Jades for the Scholar’s Table, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2008, cat. no. 104; another from the collection of The Hon. Edgar Bromberger, sold in our New York rooms, 12th September 2012, lot 360; and a fourth example sold twice in our London rooms, 2nd May 1985, lot 235, and again 10th May 2017, lot 81.

Among the animals associated with Buddhism, the lion is one of the most commonly portrayed. Lions were not indigenous to China but were imported as exotic gifts for the Han (206 BC- AD 220) and Tang (618-907) courts. The symbolism associated with the lion developed with the introduction and spread of Buddhism in China after the fall of the Han dynasty.

本品玉料甚大，刻劃少獅伏於太獅背上，太獅口銜繡球與少獅嬉戲，此紋飾意喻世代官運亨通。各式動物及幼子題材，始流行於元、明兩朝，至清代亦頗為常見。

北京故宮博物院收藏一玉雕太獅少獅例，圖載於《華夏古玉》，卷12，香港，1997年，圖版54；另比一例，劉瑞隆藏品，曾展於《閣有天珍：中國文房玉雕》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，2008年，編號104；再比一例，布隆伯格法官收藏，售於紐約蘇富比2012年9月12日，編號360。第四例兩度售於倫敦蘇富比，先後為1985年5月2日，編號235及2017年5月10日，編號81。

佛教動物當中以佛獅最為常見。獅子並非來自中國本土，而是漢、唐之時，由外國進貢而傳入中土。繼漢以後，佛教開始在中國迅速發展，瑞獅之佛教相關寓意亦於此時產生。