A Chinese celadon jade three boys cup 17th/18th century

A Chinese celadon jade three boys cup 17th/18th century, carved with the three smiling children climbing up the sides of an enormous bowl around which are carved three small roundels, the stone with grey and creamy speckling and striations, 8.8cm. Cf. M Knight, Later Chinese Jades Ming Dynasty to the Twentieth Century, nos.308 and 309 for related examples. Children at play was a common decorative motif of the Ming dynasty, especially during the Jiajing (1522-1566) and Wanli (1573-1620) reigns. While boys of the Ming dynasty played their games, their counterparts in the Qing dynasty carried auspicious objects.