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This figurine is part of a grouping of four, all about 7.5 inches high, with the custom made wood stands.
I'm wondering about age and if this is jade, scratch test is positive. These stands with wire decorations were made for export from China, early to mid-20th century IMHO.
The stance of the man is odd, holding the end of his short goatee. The carving seems a little amateurish for the size. There is a large whitish inclusion on the back, as you can see.

I like your jade figure and would love to see the other three. What is the REAL color of it? I cannot tell for sure from your pictures. I believe it can be made of nephrite and I have no troubles with your dating. Its luster is good. Thanks for sharing it with us.

here is the next figure, from what I read here about nephrite/jade, there are different levels of quality and workmanship.
I gather inclusions are not a good grade of jade. The pictures were dark, on a dark background, I tried to lighten them to see details better. These were taken with electric lamps, so probably pale and less green in daylight.

US $4,428.00
[ 56 bids ]
Shipping:
$24.95 Standard Shipping from outside US

Bought by the same private buyer as that of first statue.

here is the 3rd figure of the set of four.

US $4,428.00
[ 46 bids ]
Shipping:
$24.95 Standard Shipping from outside US
Item location:
Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Sold to a different buyer with only 8 rating.

figure 4 of 4.

Thank you for posting your four jade statues. I really like them and I believe they are at least early 20th century or even earlier. Of course I am no expert and therefore can be wrong. It will be great to hear comments from other collectors.

Again, on my lab top, the 1st and 2nd jade statues appeared to be more greenish but the 3rd and 4th ones appear to be more white. But it is often extremely difficult to judge the true colors of white and celadon jade pieces on digital pictures because celadon will appear white and white will appear celadon.

While it is true that inclusion may not be desirable on any jade carvings but you have to understand the difficulties in even finding enough quality nephrite jade to carve FOUR statues that are about 7.5 inches tall. It will take 2 times to 3 times the raw material to have a finished statue like the size of your statue. Even in today's China, it would not be that easy. Some time if the carver can incorporate the inclusions into the piece or hide them (like on the back), then no harm was done. Of course, if one can find a piece of perfect Hetian nephrite jade stone to finish a statue this size, its value will be astronomical, IMHO.

I am surprised at the number of your statues - four, because group of Chinese statues usually come in 2, 3 or 8.

In your last picture, if I am not mistaken, the three Chinese characters (from right to left) appear to be 運河圖 (Canal Map).

Again, the canal mentioned there may be the

"The Grand Canal 京杭运河, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world; it is a famous tourist destination.[1] Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BCE, although the various sections were finally combined during the Sui Dynasty (581–618 AD).

The total length of the Grand Canal is 1,776 km (1,104 mi). Its greatest height is reached in the mountains of Shandong, at a summit of 42 m (138 ft).[2] Ships in Chinese canals did not have trouble reaching higher elevations after the pound lock was invented in the 10th century, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyo.[3] The canal's size and grandeur won it the admiration of many throughout history, including the Japanese monk Ennin (794–864), the Persian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318), the Korean official Choe Bu (1454–1504) and the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).[4][5]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_%28China%29

Incidentally, the above article mentioned four people and one of them is a Japanese monk and your second statue shown here looks like a Japanese monk to me. The first statue appears to carry some types of architectural instruments (I could not figure out what it was, may be other members can help. I thought it might be a compass). Therefore I really do not know for sure if your four jade statues are that of the four people being mentioned. More researches will be needed.

I really believe you should send some pictures to large auction houses and see what they may say about them.

Again, thanks for sharing them with us and I sincerely hope more experienced jade collectors will comment on them. They are very fascinating to me.

Super

Other links about the Grand Canal:

http://www.china001.com/show_hdr.php?xname=PPDDMV0&dname=IDSGG41&xpos=145

http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh97/maps/ch_b6a.html

http://www.baike.com/wiki/中国京杭大运河博物馆

Thank you for your detailed and very interesting post about these four figures.
The fact there was only four bothered me too. I was not sure if some were missing.
I know nothing about these types of Chinese decorative items, so it's a steep learning curve.
These are part of a large Chinese estate in Canada. The family has many decorative items from various periods and quality. Ceramics from the 1950s, cloisonne from the 1900's, jade carvings, etc.
My one remaining question about this group of figures is the lack of wear or any signs that they have some age. Is this normal? The foot rest areas looks brand new.
Thanks again SUPER.

These are very finely carved from good material,but in my opinion i feel quite modern,as the subject matter seems atypical.
They seem to be honouring figures of science/inventors/culture heroes or some such icons-the first picture shows a man holding an astrolabe perhaps(or a small seismograph)and the multiple dragonned object by his feet would also be a seismograph.
The last figure might be the architect behind the Grand Canal?
Waves seem to be lapping at his feet.
Not sure about the other two.
I might be completely off base!

These are being sold right now on eBay. I purchased a very similar carving from the same seller about two years ago - paid almost $3,000 - turned about not to be jade.

Also, dont believe everything this seller says - they buy a lot from auctions in the US... rarely are their items from estates.

IMO, the underside of the base of the figure does not appear to be nephrite or jadeite.

Also, this seller has a few id's and sometimes I see things that "sell" get relisted on their other id's. Who is really bidding is questionable...

They use the "must surely be period given the quality" or from a "prominent estate of a family with land in Hong Kong" blah blah way too much.

Ultimately - you decide, but do your research and find good comparables.

It's a small world. I know the family that sell these Chinese 'antique' estates on a regular basis.
This has become their main income. They are doing very well and have been at it for a long time.
It's possible they have acquired a good reputation for Asian antiques for sale online, and people approach them for their services.
I agree there are a few troublesome areas, there have multiple ID's, pieces do reappear under a different one, and the large number of bids on some items, to the point something is sold for way more than it is worth is baffling. I feel sorry for the buyer if there is one.
There are many errors as far as dating and country of production and descriptions.
They are not experts, but they are still doing very well, making a living after they have paid all their fees and taxes.
Sometimes, these listings are were you will find a rare treasure, with the seller unaware.

Mike:

Do you mind posting pictures of your jade figure(one you paid $3,000)here for us to compare with those that were posted here?

Also,can you provide the ebay item numbers or links of those jade figures that are still sold on eBay so we can take a look at them?

Finally, how did you know idcloisonne buy his from the same seller as yours?

Thanks in advance.

Super

Well, it really depends on your definition of "modern" jade carvings. At one time, all jade carvings that were made after 1911 AD (after Qing dynasty)were considered "modern", but most considered jade carvings that are less than 100 years old as MODERN. Since this is 2014, therefore any jade carvings made after 1914 will be considered modern. In that sense, based on what idclisonne said about the ages of the stands for these jade statues: early to mid-20th century"
and if that is also the age of the jade statues, they will be indeed "modern".

Therefore,I wonder what exactly you meant by "quite modern"? In the 30s,40s,50s,60s much later?

The thing is the history of the Grand Canal is very old and I do not believe too many of us had seen similar jade statues like these anywhere? Have we?

It is indeed quite strange that we have yet heard from other jade collectors like Lee, Dave, Adam and Ernest make any comment on these jade statues. May be they cannot make up their minds?

Hopefully we will hear from them and others soon.

If the material used to make these four statues were indeed decent nephrite jade, then it will almost be impossible for them to be made "too modern" because again like I said, trying to find sufficient and decent nephrite jade material to make four jade statues these sizes, even today, is not that easy. If you do not believe me, try to find them.

Of course, I can be wrong.

Super

My dating of the stands is based on many other Chinese products exported mid-20th century, some of great qualit, but documented as recent vintage, with these nice custom made stands with gilt wire detail.
I would be odd if the stands were made much later...
Also, the demeanor of these gentlemen does not come across as serious, and respectfully done by the Chinese carver, something you are more likely to find in mid-20th exports.

Winning bid:
US $4,505.55
[ 64 bids ]
Shipping:
$24.95 Standard Shipping from outside US
Item location:
Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Sold to a different buyer with 154 rating.

The four "jade" figurines totaled around US$18,011.55 (excluding postage), not necessarily cheap, but if they were indeed made of quality nephrite jade and these were the only set, then they may be worth their finalized prices. However, without examining them in person, I would never know. I guess a lot of the bidders (providing they are genuine) must believe that they are good, otherwise they will not bid so much and with so many bidding on them. It would be interested to see if any of them would be returned and what type of feedback will be provided by the buyers. Cheer.

Jade figures were all relisted the day after the sale ended...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251440272859

Only time will tell if we see them get relisted in the next few months whether they really sold or not.

It is apparently that you may not own these four figures but just copied the pictures from that of eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-CHINESE-CARVED-JADE-SCHOLAR-FIGURE-w-SCROLL-WAVES-SILVER-INLAID-STAND-1-/201025877221?pt=Asian_Antiques&hash=item2ece1374e5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-CHINESE-CARVED-JADE-SCHOLAR-FIGURE-w-BI-DISC-VASE-SILVER-INLAID-STAND-2-/291064827835?pt=Asian_Antiques&hash=item43c4d0cfbb

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-CHINESE-CARVED-JADE-SCHOLAR-FIGURE-w-BOOK-PINE-TREE-SILVER-INLAID-STAND-3-/121261799707?pt=Asian_Antiques&hash=item1c3bc4391b

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-CHINESE-JADE-SCHOLAR-FIGURE-w-DRAGON-CENSER-VASE-SILVER-INLAID-STAND-4-/121261799748?pt=Asian_Antiques&hash=item1c3bc43944

because the same four jade statues were being listed by this seller on eBay and their pictures look identical to those that were being posted here by you.

I do not know how you can tell the scratch test result is positive if you do not own them. If you own them and there are another set of identical four pieces for bidding, that is not a good sign.

The current bid prices for them range from $1152 to $ 2125 with three of them around 2,000. It appears that some of these bidders, like me, judging by their pictures, may believe they were made of good jade material. unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to bid sight unseen on any white or celadon jade carvings. Now the seller does give a 14 day return privilege which may be sufficient time to appraise the piece in person.
Well, are you one of the bidders?

If they were indeed made of quality nephrite jades without any chips/nicks, then they may be worth the winning prices. If they were not made of jade, then they would indeed be modern stone statues and their stands will be worth more than the statues.

Well, I feel for those who paid a lot for them (if you are one of them) without being able to examine them in person. Just by looking at their low-resolution pictures, they did appear to have potentials. That shows the risks of trying to judge any pieces with digital pictures alone.

Another red flag is this seller is in Canada and I DO NOT like to bid or buy anything from sellers in Canada. I have a lot of bad experiences with them on coins. Also they can get away with a lot because they are outside U.S. In short, to buy any "jade" carvings sight unseen from eBay can be hazardous to your financial health.

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression on this board. My approach was to study these figures and get other more knowledgeable opinions about them.
It is difficult to judge by pictures alone.
The scratch test was not done by me.
I did not see any rule that states you can only post images of items you own. If this is the case, I stand corrected. I was not a bidder and had no intention of using this board to my financial advantage.
Learning was my goal.

This statue received 45 bids, sold for US$4,650 plus a shipping charge of $24.95.

Just because something sells for a lot of money doesnt mean its worth a lot of money. Example - last several auctions I've been to have had tons of fakes that sold for a lot of money. Many foreign dealers, you know which group, bid to win everything and often only pay for what they want or pay for nothing at all.

After they win an item, they have an "expert" check it out and that determines whether they will pay. Many have no knowledge of what constitutes an authentic piece of Chinese art. And many rich are buying simply what they like because they can afford it.

The sad part is that thousands of people are getting charged higher prices because of bidders who arent serious and that many dealers/buyers are getting screwed because of the market conditions.

IMO good nephrite has fluid clouds and not white dandruff-like specs. Good nephrite should be white, whitish grey, grey, or clearish white - not greenish white. When I think on the minty side of color - I think jadeite and these are not jadeite.
Also, the level of polishing on these is subpar, rough edges, no detail on the underside of the shoes, etc.

Exactly!
The HOT Chinese antique market has spawned all kinds of nefarious dirty tricks and many greedy speculators looking for a big profit.
It is getting so bad that, many things are called CHINESE when they are not. Many things are called ANTIQUE when they are not.
That's just a few lies. Then we go into fakes (silver, jade, ivory, bronze, etc), recent reproductions, wrong producers - Imperial?
It is a shame. Most people, including some collectors don't have enough knowledge to tell the difference.
Speculators don't care because they are going to lie too....

What is your point exactly?
The number of bids and final price can be manipulated in many different ways, shipping amount would be higher due to high insurance value of thousands of dollars, which was not predictable when listing was first posted with shipping amount. If you were a long term seller or frequent buyer on this site, you would understand much better what is going on here.
As you pointed out this is not your field of expertise. It's not possible to determine value by images alone.
I was curious about dating, still did not get a good answer for that question.
You are making this personal, condemning Canadian sellers as a whole in the process. I don't think this site is meant for people to explain their biases. We all have horror stories, no country is exempt.

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