Cowherd mounting a buffalo

This highly polished jade, with white and gray suffusions, depicts a buffalo and its herd boy. The buffalo sits patiently while the boy, holding on to the rope, tries to climb on its back. The buffalo rests on folded legs, with a rope knotted through its nostrils. The curved horns, oval eyes, nostrils, and mouth are nicely worked, and the twisted rope and tail are finely striated. The boy wears shoes, and steps with his left foot on the animal's left leg, bracing his right foot against the buffalo's left haunch. The boy's head appears to be a bit flattened, but his features are carefully delineated.

Chinese are fond of the buffalo, the animal that plows the rice fields, which produce the main staple of China. The buffalo and its herd boy is a popular subject among the jades of the Qianlong period, and continues to be produced today. The cowherd is sometimes shown sitting on the buffalo, and sometimes climbing on his animal, as in this example.